Stargazer
by chris steel
Summary: Sequel to Favors. More romance, Admonitor's in the Unknowns, the Stargazer vanishes from the hangar and must be recovered
1. Prologue

Hey, I get to do another disclaimer! Goody. OK, here goes. Star Wars is not mine (anybody confused? I didn't think so). Thrawn and Niriz are Star Wars– thus, not mine. Says George, anyway. They're mine as far as I'm concerned. . . will that get me sued? :p If ever there was a waste of time, suing me would be it. I live on generic-brand peanut butter and those loafs of bread you can get for 79 cents. Let him sue me. Ha! You can have all of my New Jedi Order books. I don't like 'em that much anyway. I'm keeping the Thrawn Trilogy, even if I have to move to South America to do it.  
  
And onto the story. . . .  
  
PROLOGUE  
  
"We appreciate your prompt visit, Captain," General Sittien said, pressing the call button for the turbolift. "The local populace is getting more and more unruly. Sooner or later, the mercenaries will be running the planet."  
  
"And we can't have that," Captain Niriz said, resisting the urge to shoot a questioning look at the man disguised in the lieutenant uniform beside him. He still wasn't completely convinced he and Admiral Thrawn had to be here in person. Yes, they needed to maintain an Imperial presence on the planet in order to use it as a jump point, but why did they have to come personally? These alien insurgents were dangerous, and General Sittien was more than capable of coming to the Admonitor to discuss strategy.  
  
Sittien pushed the call button again and frowned. "Damn lift," he muttered under his breath. "If those damn pirates. . . ."   
  
Niriz shot a quick look at his 'assistant' as the general got on the comm. Thrawn was frowning slightly, echoing Niriz's unease. The office building was nearly empty, occupied only by the three of them, a quartet of stormtrooper escorts, and a number of defense droids. Not exactly secured.  
  
With that on his mind, he nearly jumped when the turbolift doors forced themselves open with the assistance of a pair of leather-gloved hands. A humanoid several centimeters shorter than Niriz, wearing a loose, brown mechanic's jumpsuit, boots, and some sort of full-helmet breather mask covering her entire head. With no skin exposed, it was impossible to tell the species. Human, or native? Either way, Niriz suspected the person was a female from her curved figure.   
  
She paused, startled, and the doors snapped closed behind her. "Oh," she said, her voice mechanically filtered. The blank gaze of the breather's eyes turned toward the troopers' blaster rifles. The sight of so many aimed weapons aimed at her did not seem to have any affect. She turned back to Sittien. "I thought everyone had left— you'll have to use the stairs, gentlemen. I'm sorry. Hydraulics line broke somewhere upstairs, and I had to cut power to—"  
  
"What is your name?" Sittien interrupted, shoving his comm away again.  
  
"Jess Nelian, Your Excellency," she said promptly. "Repair Tech, First Class, usually stationed at the spaceport."  
  
Sittien narrowed his green eyes. "And the rest of your team? Where are they?"  
  
"Oh, upstairs yet," she said. "I repelled down to see if I could find the leak manually. . . ." She trailed off, tilting her head slightly. Then, straightening again, she said, "Speaking of my team, Horace says he's got it pinpointed now. I should get back to work." She stepped toward the doors.  
  
"Give me the frequency you're on," Sittien said.  
  
The woman paused. "Fifteen-two oh four," she said, reaching for the doors again.  
  
Thrawn caught her arm with one hand, the other on his blaster. "Just a minute, madam."  
  
The helmeted woman turned, not fighting his grip. "Certain—" She broke off mid-sentence, ignoring Sittien on his comm and Thrawn on her arm. "*Sith.* Take cover— they have blaster rifles." She yanked out her own blaster, a compact thing that fit in her cargo pocket.   
  
Thrawn released her arm and stepped back, giving all four troopers a clear shot at her. "Put down the weapon," Niriz said, hoping her reflexes were not as quick as a stormtrooper's. If she was feeling suicidal, she could easily swivel and shoot any of them.  
  
"Get out of the way, you idiot!" she hissed, aiming her blaster at the lift.  
  
The turbolift doors were roughly thrust open, inactive gears groaning in protest. Niriz threw himself to the ground just before the first bolts were fired from the turbolift. Crawling out of the way, he took cover behind a comm station and peered out.  
  
Two troopers and the general were on the ground, charred holes in various areas of their bodies. Two more troopers were kneeling on one knee, firing at the turbolift. Niriz could not see into the shaft, but from the rate of fire, there were at least two shooters in there. Across the room, the helmeted woman climbed off Thrawn and crept toward the troopers. Thrawn slowly propped himself up, then rolled onto his stomach, reaching for his blaster.  
  
Niriz pushed himself to his knees, quickly stabbing the button to activate the terminal. He had to duck to avoid a ricocheting bolt, but otherwise, the attackers could not see him activating the comm system. The comm station was on the same wall as the lift door. He punched in his ID, then turned back to watch while it was being authorized.  
  
The woman dropped to the ground next to Sittien and tore her glove off. Pale skin and slender fingers pressed against his neck, seeking a pulse. Human, then, a distant corner of his mind noted. Another trooper went down, and she snapped up her blaster. Firing into the lift door, she crept toward the fallen trooper and slid her hand under his helmet.   
  
A bolt splattered to the ground mere centimeters from Thrawn's boot. The Admiral jerked back, then continued crawling closer to the wall where the door was, on the other side of the lift from Niriz. The woman narrowly missed being shot as well; the trooper she was examining was no longer of any interest to her as she started firing into the turbolift well again.  
  
There was a scream. The woman dodged out of the line of sight, narrowly avoiding a blaster bolt. She was within two meters of Niriz now. Getting closer. There were still at least two shooters firing out of the lift into the main room.  
  
He turned back to the terminal. It was on the comm screen. Hoping Security in the garrison ran up to Imperial Efficiency standards, he cued for a Code 1. And medical personnel. Just in case.  
  
"Take cover, Cap," a mechanical voice said. The mysterious woman came up behind him. "Quick!"  
  
He glanced back to see Thrawn moving as fast as the woman, in the opposite direction. What the Sith. . . ? The Admiral dove behind a large, potted tree as the woman grabbed Niriz's arm and dragged him behind the reception desk.  
  
Just in time, too. The floor vibrated, and a loud roar coming from the turbolift washed over the room. "Just a pressure detonator, Cap," the woman said in his ear. "No permanent damage— to the building, at least."  
  
Before he could reply, she was off again, trotting cautiously toward the lift shaft. Nothing shot at her as she poked her head through the door. "Three guys on ropes," she called to him, turning away. "One dead, two unconscious— that's all of them, by the way. . . ." She trailed off and broke into a jog.  
  
Curious, Niriz followed. The woman stopped at the potted tree– the same potted tree Thrawn had dived behind– and knelt down.   
  
"Sith take it," he heard her say. "Captain– better call a medic."  
  
*** 


	2. ONE

a/n: hi again, folks. yeah, I'm back at it. . . : ) Did anyone else know that chicken dumpling soup has no noodles? I feel like an idiot. . . I wanted chicken NOODLE soup. *sigh* yup, back to the whining, too. . . lol. Sorry it took me a whole DAY to post another chapter. I was cheating last time, ok? That thing was already done. This one I actually have to find time to write. :p.  
  
Jayla: what, so there's no party? Way to burst my bubble. . . and yes, it's a cliffhanger. It's supposed to be that way! and it'll be a good long while before you find out what happened, too. And I did have a good day, thank you very much. Took my lit midterm: SUCCESS!! *knock on wood* I think i did good. excellent. and we're having a heat wave here in WI- we hit 56 today!!   
  
admiral: thank you very much : ) and it's always exciting to hear from another Imperial :D as for "thrawn's daughter", I really hope I finish it. ive got ideas, but I just can't get them written down. oh, well-- I'll give myself a deadline-- next chapter by Monday. MONDAY. now I've got no choice, it's written down.   
  
ONE  
  
One Month Earlier. . . .  
  
Amee Wilcox was possibly the best singer in existence. Katyana Drake mouthed the words to the song as she ran, knowing her own less-than-ideal singing voice would earn her some dirty looks from her fellow gym patrons should she actually sing along. Grabbing her towel, she wiped a trickle of sweat from her neck.  
  
The green numbers on the display screen said she had just finished the third kilometer. Not bad, not bad. . . . She reached for her water bottle.  
  
A blue hand blocked her. She squeaked in surprise, nearly flying off the back of her treadmill. "Sith!" she gasped, grabbing the handles and regaining her momentum just in time. Yanking her earpieces out, she glared at the man who had interrupted her.  
  
Thrawn winced. "Apologies," he said. "I didn't mean to startle you."  
  
"'kay," she said, releasing the handles and running normally again.  
  
He cleared his throat. "Do you mind? We need to talk."  
  
She glanced at his olive-gray Admiral's uniform, then said, "Assignment?"  
  
"No. I–"  
  
"On duty?"  
  
His eyebrows went up. "Am I on duty? Not yet."  
  
"Then I can– tell you to– go away."   
  
He didn't move, and Katy continued to run. "Gym time," she said finally, squeezing her words out between breaths. "From 1800 to 1900-- is gym time."  
  
He glanced at his watch, then said, "It's 1930."  
  
//Blast// "I'm behind." She took a few breaths, then added, "Still have two k to go."  
  
"Katy." He folded his arms. "You can't avoid it, you know."  
  
//Double blast// "Can so," she said. "So there."  
  
The sheer immaturity of her statement seemed to catch him by surprise. He eyed her, quite possibly questioning his own sanity in marrying her. "I see," Thrawn said finally. He shrugged. "Well, suit yourself." He turned to leave.  
  
//Triple blast// She keyed the treadmill to a stop and hopped off. "Wait up," she said, snatching up her bottle and towel and racing to catch up. "What was that supposed to mean?" she demanded, half out of breath. People were watching– she ignored them  
  
Thrawn kept walking toward the exit. "It means you may do as you wish," he said. "Go ahead and continue running before someone takes your treadmill."  
  
"You don't really think that reverse-psychology stuff is going to work, do you?" She folded her arms over her sweaty stomach and frowned.  
  
He glanced down at her and a faintly amused smile crossed his face. "I know it will work."  
  
"And aren't you arrogant today," she said with a snort, using the towel to mop her face off again. "I should go back in there to prove you wrong."  
  
Thrawn laughed. "You should," he said. "But you won't. Not until you know what I intend to do with your stuff if you don't get it out of those blasted crates and clean up your mess."  
  
He had a good point. "I guess that's why you're the Admiral," she said, making a face. "Fine. You can make me sit down there and guard my junk, but you can't make me clean it up."  
  
"Suit yourself."  
  
"Oh, Sith take you," she said with a snort. A few people on the warm-up mat they were passing looked up in surprise, and she said, "He's off duty. I'm allowed to say what I want."  
  
Thrawn elbowed her in the ribs, and she rolled her eyes. "Serves you right," she said, brushing past him to leave the room.  
  
Out in the corridor, Thrawn said, "I'm not sure what the problem is, Katy. Do you not want to move into my suite?"  
  
"That's not it," she said. "There's just. . . so much junk. I don't even know where to *start*."  
  
He chuckled. "Start with the little cartons and work your way up."  
  
"Thrawn, unpacking is a *process*."  
  
"You point being what? How did you unpack when you got here?"  
  
She frowned, thinking back to her first day on the Admonitor, then the second day. . . and then the next week. . . . "I sort of just pulled out what I needed and left the rest until Nona got fed up and did it for me," she admitted with an embarrassed laugh. "I guess that's a little pathetic."  
  
"A little," he agreed dryly. He glanced at his watch. "I have a meeting in twenty minutes. I should be out by 2200–"  
  
"Hold on," she said. "You have a meeting at *2000*?"  
  
"Unfortunately. May I assume you'll be done by 2200?"  
  
She smothered a giggle, knowing he was serious. "You may assume anything you'd like, Admiral," she said.  
  
"Katy."  
  
"I'll try," she said solemnly. "I promise."  
  
Thrawn raised an eyebrow but wisely didn't comment. "I should get going," he said, glancing at his watch a second time. "You'll go right down to the suite?"  
  
"Look at me. I need a shower. I'm not going to head over to the rec room, if that's what you're asking."  
  
His red eyes flickered over her, and then without warning, he turned and pulled her through an open doorway. A supply closet, she realized, finding herself pressed against the wall between a rack of smashball rackets and a sack full of smashballs.   
  
"What is the matter with you?" she hissed. Her heart skipped a beat as his hands slid down her arms. "Thrawn! We're going to get caught!"  
  
He leaned forward, kissing her neck. "Do you always dress like this during gym time?" he whispered, moving his hands up her thigh, over the shorts, and up to the sports bra. "Maybe I should come more often."  
  
She was suddenly breathing harder than she had been on the treadmill. "This isn't fair," she said.  
  
Thrawn smirked, leaning in to kiss her. //Blast that man, anyway// she thought, slipping her arms around him. If he wanted to go to his meeting smelling like sweat, well. . . it certainly served him right.  
  
She moaned softly as his mouth moved, trailing kisses across her jaw, pausing at her pulse and nipping gently. His knee pressed between hers, the texture of the fabric against her sweaty skin making her shiver.  
  
"This isn't fair," she said again.  
  
"I know, my dear," he whispered in her ear. Stepping back, he said, "2200?"  
  
She nodded shakily. "I'll be there."  
  
Thrawn glanced toward the door, smoothing his tunic, then said, "As will I." With a final smile, he vanished out into the corridor.  
  
Katy collapsed back against the wall and sunk down, a huge grin plastered across her face. He could interrupt gym time anytime he wanted, she thought with a giggle. But Sith, it was a long time until 2200.  
  
Finally, when the urge to shower got to great, she climbed to her feet. And now she got to go back to her suite– *her* suite! And to think she had been skeptical about this whole marriage thing.   
  
Five minutes later, standing in front of what looked like some sort of crime scene, the giddiness was gone. No wonder Thrawn was annoyed. She was annoyed, too. The radius of the disaster zone seemed to have expanded since she had last been down here.  
  
There were cartons stacked in the center of the main room. The entertainment center in the right, along with the cloned-leather couches, were covered in her clothes. Not even his command chair on the other side of the room was spared. There was a pile of datapacks on the seat, and a tunic dangling over the top. Of course, the tunic hadn't come from her cartons– nope. That one got thrown there last night. She grinned again at the memory. //Three hours, twenty minutes. . . .//  
  
Well, she could deal with this *after* her shower. A nice, long shower.   
  
An hour later, she stood in the same place, looking at the same disaster scene. Sithspawn. She took a deep breath. Maybe she ought to bring Nona down here and let her loose. Her old roommate liked to organize and straighten. And be nosy. What had Thrawn suggested? Start with the little cartons. All right.  
  
She picked up the smallest carton and flipped the lid off. The little knickknacks from her dresser were jumbled from when Katy had dumped them in the day before yesterday. "Ooh," she said, seeming a gleam of metal. She picked it out. It was the credit clip Poppy had given her when she had gotten her first assignment on a Star Destroyer. One of the triangular ships was etched onto the front of the silver clip. She missed Poppy– Force knew when she would ever return to Trellis. It could be months. . . or more likely years, before she saw her grandfather again.  
  
She put the clip back and poked deeper into the box. So that's where her moisturizer had gone. . . she'd been looking for that yesterday. Her watch– that one would be useful. She slipped it around her wrist. And an old holocube– she picked it up and stared at the holo inside. Where had this come from? She hadn't seen this holo in years.   
  
Katy sat down on the deck, studying the little object. She could still remember this day at Granddad's vacation home on D'mia. She had been so young! She looked five, maybe six, with her auburn hair all wild and in her face and her knobby knees sticking out from under her skirt. There was a baby clutched in her arms. She wasn't old enough for it to be her brother Conner. Rya, then.  
  
Of all the holos she had, what made her include this one in the collection she had brought? Katy shoved the holocube back into the crate and stood up. Craziness. Leaving the carton on the floor, she looked for something else to start.  
  
She found the crate packed with all her civilian clothes and lugged it over to the bedroom door. Frowning at the keypad, she closed her eyes. What was the blasted code? Five. . . no, one-five something. And there was an eight in there somewhere. Two eights. And. . . and some other number. She hesitated, then tried a combination of those. Wrong. Sith.  
  
She continued punching in numbers for about a minute, then gave it up. Sithspitting door. She shrugged. "Sorry," she said to the crate of clothing. "You guys are just going to have to wait until Daddy comes home."  
  
Her comm trilled, making her jump. Her comm! Where was it? She had left it in here somewhere, not taking it with her to the gym. But. . . where. . . . She walked quickly through the large suite, tracking it by sound.  
  
"Gotcha!" she exclaimed, seeing it sitting with the datapacks on the command chair. She sprinted over, thumbing it on before the caller could give up. "Drake," she said.  
  
"Are you in the suite?"  
  
It was Thrawn. She snorted indignantly. "You are *not* checking up on me."  
  
"Yes, or no?"  
  
"Yes, I'm here," she said, wrinkling her nose as she studied the room. "It's not going so great, Thrawn."  
  
"Are you alone?"  
  
"Yes. . . ."  
  
He let out a breath. "Were you playing with the control panel for the bedroom?"  
  
"How– oh, blast it," she said. "Don't tell me it's rigged."  
  
"Security was a bit. . . concerned," Thrawn said, laughing, "when you tripped the flag *forty-eight times*."  
  
She felt her cheeks heating. "Oh," she said. "Oops."  
  
He laughed harder. "It's 15887," he said. "But now it has to be changed."  
  
"I *knew* that," she said, grimacing. "Almost. Sith. I was close, at least." She quickly crossed to the panel and punched in the code.  
  
The little light flashed red for the forty-ninth time. "BLAST it!" she yelled, kicking the door. "You blasted piece of garbage!"  
  
"15887," Thrawn said, only partially stifling his laughter. "Katy. . . honestly. 1. 5. 8–"  
  
"Yeah, I got it," she said through clenched teeth, stabbing the proper keys. The door finally swung open. "Stop laughing at me, or you're going to come back to find fuzzy pink pittens painted all over your room."  
  
"Please hold off on that," Thrawn said. "Now. . . any other problems?"  
  
"Um. . .I hope not. Do you have any more *flags* I might trip?"  
  
"Nothing you'll get into by accident," he said. Then, dryly, he added, "Unless you intend to go through my computers?"  
  
"Hmm. No, I should leave something to do tomorrow. I've got your bedroom to poke through while you're gone."  
  
He sounded amused. "You won't find much. I have to get going, Katy."  
  
"Right. 2200, still?"  
  
"2200."  
  
She grinned again. "I'll be waiting." 


	3. TWO: Ray

a/n: THANKS to Jayla for some ideas I helped myself to last chap, and a few in this one, too-- i owe ya one. Oh, and she gets credit for Ray, too. His first appearance came from the Thrawn-Katy fanfic she wrote :D I loved him. Had to make him my own. lol. no, I think he's adorable. and being the inspiration for the purchase of chipmunk crackers-- oh, my, I'm blushing. hehe. it's crazy how everybody-- WI, CA, whatever-- are associating me with chipmunks all the time. . . could be worse, I guess.   
  
Jayla: Good luck on the evil math midterm. This chap's up early for you.  
  
Neila: Yes, there's a sequel. . . lol. Glad you found it. Exciting, huh?? Awesome. And sorry, I can't tell you what's going to happen. still lol-ing again : ) Maybe a few hints. . . well, Katy scrubs a lot of toilets (aww, poor katy), someone gets kidnapped, somebody gets blasted, the weird chick in in the helmet from the prologue turns out to be-- hey! no, I'm not going to tell you that. thrawn's brother shows up, causes some unintential trouble, and Niriz saves the day. Yay, Niriz! I love that guy too.  
  
All right, then, folks. Live long and prosper. . . oh, no, wait, thats star TREK. oops. it's waaaay too late. May the Force be With You!  
  
TWO: Ray (There. You get a title this chapter, princess).  
  
"Hey! Katy! Hold up!"  
  
Two steps out of the turbolift, Katy paused and looked over her shoulder. Lieutenant Rhiner Elke was jogging down the hall after her. "What's going on?" she asked when Rhiner skidded to a halt in front of her.  
  
"Hold on." He looked back. "Ray! Hurry it up!"  
  
Katy followed his gaze, wondering which man walking down the busy corridor was Ray. The young-looking blond kid in the ensign uniform, lugging an armful of hardcopy document folders, picked up his pace. He must be Ray.  
  
"Ray, this is the girl I was talking about," Rhiner said to the ensign, nodding at Katy. "She works the sensor station on the bridge."  
  
"Hullo, ma'am," Ray said, nodding. The gesture made his absurdly large glasses slid dangerously close to the end of his nose. Juggling his folders, he quickly sliding them back up toward his eyes.  
  
Katy smiled widely. What a cutie! He looked a bit like a skittish puppy, with his big ears and even bigger brown eyes– or maybe the eyes only looked big because of those giant glasses. "You must be Ray," she said.  
  
"Yup," Rhiner said. "Ray Hemmons. Works with me down in Engineering. You remember me telling you about our new sensor system idea, right?"  
  
Sensor system? "Uh," she said. "No. Not really, no."  
  
"Sure you do," Rhiner said. "You know, when we went to play smashball?"  
  
"I still don't remember."  
  
"Whatever. Look, we designed a new sensor system. This baby's got *three times* the speed, Katy, no bull." He clapped Ray on the back. "This kid's a certified genius."  
  
Poor Ray's glasses slid right off his nose this time, barely hanging on by an ear. He made a desperate grab for them before they fell, and half of the folders he held slid off the stack. Papers fluttered out, scattering across the hall.  
  
"Oh, nuts," he muttered, shoving his glasses back on. He dropped to the deck, grabbing desperately for the papers.  
  
Trying not to laugh, Katy crouched down to help. "Relax," she said. "It's not the end of the universe."  
  
"No– hey, Kate, let him get those," Rhiner said, his voice strange. He grabbed her arm. "Don't look at that."  
  
Naturally, she looked. The paper in her hand looked like some sort of technical report– "Hey!" she protested when Rhiner snatched it out of her hand.  
  
"It's classified," he hissed, looking around at the other people in the hallway. "Way to go, Hemmons."  
  
Ray's face, already pink, went crimson. "Don't listen to him," Katy said, giving Rhiner a dark look. "Let go, Elke, I'm helping anyway."  
  
"You're not gonna tell Thrawn about this, are you?" Rhiner demanded, suddenly anxious, as he knelt down beside her to gather papers. "If he finds out we threw this stuff all over the. . . hall. . . oh, whoa," he said, staring down at a sheaf of papers in his hand. "I never saw *this* part before–"  
  
Katy peered over his shoulder. "What?"  
  
Rhiner flipped the sheets over and shoved them into a random folder. "Nothing. Back off."  
  
Well, if that wasn't rude. Katy scooped up a pile of papers. "I hope these are labeled," she said, putting them in another folder. "You're going to have fun sorting these out."  
  
"The captain's going to kill me," Ray moaned. "He wanted these right away." He miserably slid his glasses back up his nose. "I should have stayed in school and gotten my doctorate like my parents said."  
  
Katy couldn't help but giggle. "Ray, it's just a little mess." She spotted a lone sheet across the hall and went after it. "Tell Niriz it's my fault."  
  
"Oh, ma'am, I couldn't! You didn't do anything at all."  
  
He was adorable! "Call me Katy," she said. "And yes, you can. It's no big deal. Niriz will lecture you, Thrawn will lecture me, and we'll all go home happy."  
  
"Oh, just do it," Rhiner snorted. "Niriz wouldn't do a thing to her."  
  
Ray began stacking the folders now, looking puzzled. "He wouldn't? But. . . are you and– and the Admiral–" He flushed again.  
  
Laughing so hard she ended up sitting on the deck, Katy couldn't answer. Passers-by were looking at her life she had lost her mind. She continued to giggle. Let them stare.  
  
"Ray, my man," Rhiner said, shaking his head. "That's so sad."  
  
"What?" Ray asked, looking between Katy and Rhiner. "What's going on?"  
  
"I can't believe you haven't heard," Rhiner said. "He *married* her. HER. The one on the ground there."  
  
Katy wiped a tear out of the corner of her eye, trying to control herself. "I'm sorry," she said, not looking at Ray for fear of another outburst. "I'm a little loopy today. Had a long night. I'm not laughing at you, really."  
  
"You're Admiral Thrawn's wife?" Ray squeaked.  
  
She grinned. "Hey, that still sounds fad, no matter how many times I hear it. Yes. I am Admiral Thrawn's wife." She pushed herself to her feet. "So seriously. Tell Niriz I knocked into you. I'll live." She glanced at her watch and blinked. "Sith! I'm late for work! Bye, Rhiner. Bye, Ray!"  
  
She turned and ran down the hall, hoping to blazes that nobody important saw her doing it. Thank the Force for all that time invested in treadmills, she thought a minute later, racing down the last corridor before the bridge.  
  
Slowing as she turned the corner, she took several deep breaths and headed for the blast door. She palmed the control panel, and the door hissed open, admitting her into the bridge.  
  
Captain Niriz looked over as she walked in and gestured her over. "Nice of you to join us, Lieutenant," he said, frowning when she stopped in front of him.  
  
Blast. "I'm sorry, sir," she said. "I knocked into Ensign Hemmons, sir, and I had to help him pick up some papers."  
  
Niriz's frown deepened. "What papers?" he demanded.  
  
//Careful, Drake// "I don't know," she said. "Just shoved them into folders, I didn't look at them."  
  
Did he buy it? His eyes narrowed. He made a noise in the back of his throat and waved her toward her terminal. With a breath of relief, she hurried to relieve Lt. Yorn.  
  
She had barely seated herself when the bridge door opened again. There was Ray, clutching his folders and looking around nervously. "Ensign," Niriz said, his voice clipped. "A word, please."  
  
Ray caught sight of her. She smiled weakly in greeting. No, Niriz was going to rip into that kid, no matter what Katy said. Poor Ray.  
  
Flipping through random sensor readings, Katy watched the confrontation out of the corner of her eye. Niriz took the folders, and they proceeded to speak, too quietly to hear. Ray was starting to turn red now. . . .  
  
And then Niriz caught her watching. Before she could look away, he gestured sharply for her to join them. Sighing, Katy got up.  
  
"Lt. Drake," Niriz said. "Did you or did you not cause Ensign Hemmons to drop those files?"  
  
"Yes, sir," she said. "Sorry, Ray."  
  
Ray shook his head, worried. "But–"  
  
Niriz frowned at Ray, and he snapped his mouth shut. "Ensign Hemmons," he said. "That will be two weeks scrubbing 'freshers for lying to me. Lt. Drake does not need protection."  
  
Neither she nor Ray spoke at first. Blast it, he had told Niriz the truth. Taking a deep breath, Katy said, "Captain, Ray didn't lie. I was the one trying to protect him."  
  
Niriz smiled tightly. "Thank you. Ensign, that will be two weeks for failing to take proper security precautions while in custody of sensitive documents. A filecase would have been prudent." He turned to Drake. "And a month for you, Lieutenant, for lying to me and thinking you could get away with it."  
  
Blast it all. 'Fresher duty? Her first ever on the Admonitor. She sighed. "Yes, sir. Sorry, sir."  
  
"See that you both report to the Custodial office after your shifts. Dismissed."  
  
Ray shot her a mournful look, then raced away.  
  
*** 


	4. THREE

a/n: It's Apple Fig Newton and New Bread Day!!! YES!! Wow, I'm tired. Darn school. I think I hit my snooze button about five times this morning. . . unfortunately, I don't really have TIME to do five snoozes. At about 930, I start to get mad because WHAT IS THAT INFERNAL BEEPING NOISE? (yes, this is the fifth time now that it's gone off. . . I have a few missing circuits in the morning). 930? I think. Nah. Clock's wrong. If it's 930, that means I'm-- "SH**!" My dormmate is so hopped up on Nyquil she just mutters something that sounds like "Uunggh" and goes back to sleep. I leap out of bed, put on shoes and a coat, and run out the door. Which was a brilliant move on my behalf, considering I'm wearing this hideous yellow teeshirt thing from my old job that has the outline of a big ol' chicken and the words BOUNTIFUL BUFFET in bright red across the front. hehe. but like i said, it has a happy ending, resulting in me finally getting my apple newtons. and the bread was only 50 CENTS! And it was Village Hearth, which totally kicks the crust out of that cheap-o Pick N Save bread I was blowing *79* cents on.   
  
if that doesn't make you want to come to Wisconsin, I don't know what will. : D  
  
And thanks again to Jayla for her help. . . I'm such a mooch ; ) write more fics! I love them!  
  
THREE  
  
"Lousy blasted Niriz. Cleaning the blasted toilets. Bloody black Sith." Katy held the dripping scrub brush as far from her body as her arm would allow. "Damn Rhiner. . . I'm going to kill that stupid. . . ."  
  
Someone cleared his throat and she spun around, gripping the handle like a club. Water proceeded to run down the handle and over her glove, dripping onto her uniform trousers. "Oh, fraggit," she growled, throwing the brush into the corner of the stall. "See how you like it over there!"  
  
Thrawn stood half a meter away, leaning against the wall of the stall with his arms folded. "I don't need a lecture," she sighed, holding her dripping gloved hand out away from him and shaking the water off. "I was just trying to help."  
  
"Lying to your senior officers is not helping."  
  
She retrieved the blasted toilet brush rather than look at him. "Yeah," she said sourly. "I figured that out. Poor, dumb Ray wouldn't blame me even though I told him to twice."  
  
"I'm not even going to comment on that," Thrawn said. "Katy. . . ."  
  
She flinched. "I embarrassed you, didn't I."  
  
"Don't be ridiculous."  
  
"Oh, Sith, I did," she moaned. "Blast it. I'm sorry."  
  
He sighed. "Just. . . could you not get on Niriz's bad side?"  
  
"This wasn't exactly my plan, you know," she said, frowning down at the brush. "I'll be the perfect crewer from now on. I promise."  
  
"I'll settle for normal," Thrawn said. "I don't think you're the type to get 'fresher duty very often."  
  
She grimaced. "First time."  
  
"I can't get you out of this. I hope you understand."  
  
"I don't need you to get me out of anything." She turned grimly back to the toilet. "It was just a fluke. I'm not going to cause trouble just because I think you'll get me out of it."  
  
"I know you won't." He took a breath. "How long are you going to be?"  
  
Finish this 'fresher, plus two more. . . "Forever," she said. "And then about half an hour more." She bent down to put the brush to use. "I'll see you about a month, I expect."  
  
"Perhaps Niriz will relent. A month is a bit harsh. He's merely trying to teach you a lesson."  
  
"Yeah,"she said, scrubbing halfheartedly. "But I already knew I don't deserve any special treatment just for getting married." She sighed. "This is really awful. I never get in trouble. And now the captain thinks I'm some spoiled, lying. . . unpunctual person who's capitalizing on the fact that we went and got dr– uh, married– and–" She nearly burst into tears right there. "I'm not!"  
  
Thrawn put a hand on her shoulder. "I know, love. And the captain– if he thinks that– will change his mind."  
  
"I lied to him," she said, straightening. "He's not going to just forget that."  
  
He wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on her shoulder. "He won't hold it against you for long."  
  
She relaxed in his arms. "Thrawn?"  
  
"Yes?" he asked, kissing her temple.  
  
"Promise me something?"  
  
She could feel him nod. "Promise me that no matter how much I gripe about cleaning the 'freshers all month, you won't let me quit. Even if the captain says I can."  
  
Thrawn straightened. "That's a strange request."  
  
"I don't want anyone accusing me of weaseling out of anything."  
  
He reached around and cupped her chin. Turning her head, he kissed her briefly, then said, "As you wish. I'll miss you."  
  
He started to leave. "Thrawn," she said to his back, and he looked back. Grinning, she said, "I'm sorry that I won't have time to unpack for a month."  
  
As soon as he left, Katy heaved a huge sigh. "'Fresher duty, Drake," she muttered. "Start scrubbing."  
  
Four hours– *four hours*– later, Katy stumbled into the suite. The room was dark. Did Thrawn have another late meeting? She couldn't muster the effort to be sympathetic. There was no meeting in the universe that could be as awful as what she had just gone through. Her boots were spotted with the gritty stuff she had used on the floor, her hands smelled like the inside of her gloves, and the antiseptic for the toilets had splashed, bleaching the knee of her uniform white.  
  
A shower never felt quite so good. She had no idea how long she stood there, under the steaming water, and she didn't particularly care. Her eyes closed, and she yawned. Thrawn hadn't given her much time to sleep last night. . . all those toilets today. . . .she yawned again. She was going to have nightmares about Imperial-issue all-purpose cleaner products.  
  
Finally, she dragged herself out and put on a pair of pajamas. Nice, fuzzy flannel ones. Comfortable, but horribly faded. And there was that hole in the right armpit . . //Boy, Drake// she thought, rolling her eyes. //He won't be able to keep his hands off you tonight// Maybe her old roommate Nona was right when she said Katy's civilian wardrobe was a waste of good rags.  
  
She glanced down at them, then snorted. Since when did she get to wear anything but her uniform anyway? The pajamas were comfy, and if Thrawn didn't like it. . . . well, he could take them off, then. She giggled at the thought. He could take them off if he liked them or not.  
  
And now she was facing the clutter scattered around the main room again. How had she managed to collect this much stuff? She lived in a closet-sized room with another person! Well, might as well try this again while she was waiting for Thrawn to come back. She picked up a fresh carton and peered inside. 'Fresher stuff. She shuddered. No, she was not going to go back into another 'fresher for awhile yet. Not even to put away her shampoo. Thrawn's worked just fine, even if it didn't smell like Tima blooms.  
  
She opened another crate. Ooh– her holovid collection! She could put that away. She crossed over to the entertainment center, shoved a stack of old shirts out of her way, and set down the holovids. There! She had officially begun to unpack.  
  
Half an hour later, the disaster had noticeably receded. She only needed to put the rest of this in the bedroom. She chose the largest crate and dragged it to the door. Opened the control panel.  
  
She punched in three numbers of the new code, then hesitated. Was it 48912? Or 48921? Or. . . "Blast it," she muttered. "Once is funny. . . sort of. . . .but twice is just plain embarrassing."  
  
Sighing, she decided she didn't want to unpack anymore. Her legs hurt, her eyes were resisting her efforts to keep them open, and it just wasn't *fun*. She took one step toward the couch, then noticed the pile of clothes. Oops.  
  
She looked at Thrawn's command chair. Would he care? She yawned. Oh, let him care, it made no difference to her. She was too tired. Curling up in the wide chair, she closed her eyes.  
  
A loud beep right beneath her ear nearly sent her bolting out of the chair. She'd been lying on a blasted speaker!  
  
"Hey! Katy!" the speaker said. "I know you're in there!"  
  
She blinked. It was talking to her? "Uh. . . ." she said.  
  
"C'mon, Katy, it's me, Rhiner. Open the door!"  
  
She stared down at the controls on the chair's arm. Open the door? How the blazes was she supposed to do that? She hesitated to start punching in commands. Was it flagged, too? Thrawn didn't need to get a call from Security for the second day in a row.  
  
Giving up, she stumbled to her feet and went over to let him in manually. Through the first door, through the antechamber. . . she yawned widely, waving at the motion sensor. The blast door hissed open.  
  
And there was Rhiner, Ray in tow. Luckily, Ray wasn't carrying anything this time. "Hiya, guys," she said. "What do you want?"  
  
Rhiner grinned. "We want to come in."  
  
"Ha," she said. "You must have lost your mind."  
  
"Oh– it's not like that, ma'am," Ray said, his face turning pink. "We just want to talk to you. . . about– you know."  
  
About "you know"? What was that? The classified papers? Not likely. Oh– it had to be that project they had mentioned, before the folder-dropping incident. She hesitated. "I don't know when Thrawn's coming back. . . ."  
  
"Not for awhile," Rhiner said confidently. "He and Commander Yearly just went down to Engineering. Those meetings usually last awhile."  
  
"Oh," she said. "Well. . . fine, come in, but don't touch anything."  
  
Rhiner beat her into the main chamber, looking around curiously. When he saw the mess, he said, "This is *your* work, right?"  
  
"It used to be worse. I cleaned." She yawned again, nearly dislodging her jaw in the process. She glanced back, looking for Ray. The kid was still in the doorway, looking uneasy. "Come on in, Ray," she said, heading back to her perch on the command chair. "You never know. You might trip a flag if you leave the door open too long."  
  
Rhiner snorted, wandering over to the entertainment center. "Nice," he said, studying the holoprojector. "*I* would have married the guy if I knew he had a system like this."  
  
Katy couldn't help but laugh. "Well, that's the important thing, right?"  
  
"You got it." He poked through the carton with her holovids, then snorted. "Yeah, we'll have to get you some decent vids, though."  
  
"Hey! Those are *mine*!" She sat down in the chair and pulled her knees up to her chest. "Now what do you guys want? Something about the sensor system?"  
  
Rhiner shoved a pile of her clothes to the floor and sat down on a couch. "Cloned leather," he said. "Oh, this is nice."  
  
Turning to Ray, she said, "What did you want?"  
  
"You're going to test out our sensor system," Rhiner said. "Ray, give her the install card."  
  
"I'm going to *what*?" she asked. "No. Nu-uh. Sorry."  
  
Ray's hand, en route to his pocket, paused. "Give her the card," Rhiner said. "Katy, don't be a baby."  
  
Ray pulled the datacard out and looked at it uncertainly. "Uh, ma'am–"  
  
"Katy," she said. "And no. Nope. I'm not doing *anything* to the sensors. Niriz will skin me alive and make a leather coat.  
  
Ray slid his glasses up the bridge of his nose, looking greatly disappointed. "Could you maybe. . . look at it? It's good, really."  
  
"If it's so good, why doesn't Engineering put in a request with the captain?"  
  
Rhiner scowled, leaning back on the couch "Because they'll take credit for it. This is ours. We just need a chance."  
  
"But if she'll get in trouble. . . ." Ray looked worried. "Maybe we should find a different way."  
  
"Rhiner, get your boots off my couch!"  
  
He grinned, not moving. "Your couch, huh?"  
  
"You're blasted right, my couch, and it cost more than you make in a year. You want help or not?"  
  
"You just said you weren't helping."  
  
Good point. "I'll look at it," she said. "Now move the boots."  
  
He dropped them to the floor. "All right. Ray, you're up."  
  
Ray held out the datacard. "Thanks, Katy," he said.  
  
"No problem," she said, looking for a place to stick it. The little flatscreen panel would do the trick. She looked up again.  
  
Rhiner snickered. "You look comfortable there in that chair. Moving right in, huh?"  
  
"Well, I *did* have things on the couch," she said, narrowing her eyes. "Which, by the way, had better get back onto the couch before you leave."  
  
"Sure."  
  
Ray shifted his weight between his feet, then pushed his glasses up again. "So. . . I guess we can go now. . . ."  
  
Katy yawned. "Nah. Keep me company if you want. I forgot the code for the bedroom again, so I have to wait for Thrawn to get back before I can go to sleep."  
  
"The code?" Ray looked puzzled. "There's a code?"  
  
She started to giggle. "I forgot the code yesterday, and I ended up tripping a security flag forty-nine times trying to figure it out."  
  
"Oh. . . ."  
  
"Ray, you've got to loosen up," she said, and yawned. "So how was 'fresher duty?"  
  
He flushed. "Not so great. I dropped my glasses. Into the toilet."  
  
Breaking into laughter, she said, "Oh! That's horrible! I'm sorry."  
  
"I wish I didn't need these things," he admitted. "They get to be annoying."  
  
"I think they're cute," she said. "Honest. Hey, I'll look at this sensor stuff tomorrow and give Thrawn a demo, okay?"  
  
He flushed. "Oh, you don't have to bother the admiral for it."  
  
"Well, I don't really have influence with anyone else, you know." She stretched, then closed her eyes. "Do you think you'll dream about cleaning 'freshers, Ray?"  
  
"I– well, I don't know."  
  
She cracked her eyes again. "I will. I know it. That was the worst."  
  
"Will you get out of it? You shouldn't have to do 'fresher duty for a month, just because you wanted to help me."  
  
"It's okay," she said with a shrug. "I'll live– I'll smell like Imperial-issue antiseptic for a few months, but I'll live."  
  
He cleared his throat awkwardly. "I. . . well, I just want to say thank you. For trying. It was nice of you."  
  
"You're a sweetheart, Ray. Thank you."  
  
His cheeks went vibrant red, and she laughed again. "I–" Her mouth shut when she heard the sound of the door hissing open. Rhiner fell right off the couch and scrambled to his feet. Putting one foot down on the floor, Katy swivelled the chair to look.  
  
Thrawn was standing in the doorway, looking from her to Rhiner and back. "Good evening," he said.  
  
"Hi," she said, frowning at Rhiner. "I thought you were going to be awhile yet."  
  
"Not tonight." He looked between the men and raised an eyebrow in her direction.  
  
"Oh– this is Ray Hemmons," she said, nodding at him. "And that's Rhiner Elke. They work down in Engineering."  
  
"Yes, I've seen them there," he said. "Will you gentlemen excuse us?"  
  
Ray hurried away like something had stung him. Rhiner had only slightly less haste. As soon as they were gone, Katy said, "I'm sorry, I didn't invite them, they just came by–"  
  
"That's fine, Katy," he said. "What were you discussing?"  
  
She blinked. "Well. . . they have this idea for some new sensor system they want me to test."  
  
Was it her imagination, or did he look relieved? "I see," he said.  
  
"Why?"  
  
He hesitated, then said, "Well, you did get a look at the classified material they were handling."  
  
"You think I was drilling them about classified information?" She snorted. "What, without drilling you, first? Are you kidding?" She covered her mouth to yawn. "So– what's the secret, then?"  
  
"They're just schematics. It isn't important." He crossed the room. "How was 'fresher duty?"  
  
She sighed. "Miserable. Terrible. Really awful. I can't get the smell of fake-mint toilet scrubber out of my hair."  
  
Thrawn laughed, wrapping his arms around her. "You smell wonderful," he said, leaning forward to kiss her. He slid his hands down her back. "And your outfit is very. . .soft." His lips brushed her temple. "Come," he murmured, his voice low. "Let's take it off."  
  
"I was hoping you would do that," she said, tilting her face up for a kiss. 


	5. FOUR

a/n: the squirrels in Wisconsin are getting fat. . . man, you know you're sunk when it goes from "sports-bra-and-shorts-stretched-out-in-front-of-the-fan" weather to "three-sweaters-and-long-undies-huddled-around-the-microwave-for-warmth" weather in half a dozen weeks. winter is here again.  
  
Forlorn: oh my god, that's great! lmao. you're right about jayla (hehe). .. but she has my email address. she'd track me down-- heck, she already DOES when i take more than 24 hours to post :D. no, I love her, she's great- she writes fanfics for my fanfics- that cracks me up. all right, I know it's annoying to read one chapter at a time-- if i were you, I'd probably be sending myself evil emails. i'm sorry!! honest. but as you can see, I can't help it. i HAVE to post these things. see, if I don't, I don't get my review emails. I LOVE getting those. I LOVE IT! If i don't get them, I get sad. when I get sad, i get self-esteem problems, and when I have those, I can't write because obviously nobody wants to read this stupid story anymore-- SEE? i'm so spoiled. . . ha. says the girl surviving on the cheapest pb&j sandwiches possible. anyway. . . well, please keep reading anyway!  
  
Kimara: oooh, a Niriz fan, huh?? hehe. i love that guy. a romance. . . hmm. ok, maybe I could do that. i have to think about how to put that together, but for you, I think it could be arranged ; ) I've even got someone in mind. . . a little young for him, I think, but. . . she's a strange girl. she can like older men. yeah, I think I might pull that off.  
  
See? I take requests! lol. and how come it seems like everyone except me figured out how to see chapter 4 before it even shows up on the menu? I was getting reviews for chapter 4 and it hadn't even shown up yet!!! Crazy. It was explained to me. and as usual, thanks to Jayla for letting me rip off yet another scene idea (and yes, even some dialog) Lazy Writer Alert. But just so y'all know, Chapter 5's pure ME. That's right. MEMEME.   
  
The following has been brought to you by Dr Pepper: 12 cans in 3 days. . . the reason I need to buy 50cent loaves of bread.  
  
FOUR  
  
It was an interesting design. Katy leaned closer, studying the code for the this new sensor program. Rhiner's claim of "three times the speed" was a bit exaggerated, but there was no question it was an improvement. It used a bit more space in the memory, but perhaps that wasn't a big problem.  
  
"Isn't it great?" Ray said, hovering over her shoulder. "Try the display."  
  
Katy shrugged and typed in her authorization code. The terminal began to run the program, tapping into the sensor data. A miniature Admonitor holo popped up over her display, rotating slowly.   
  
"It's so realistic," she said, studying it closely. "Wow. That's amazing, Ray."  
  
He grinned. "It's really handy for showing damage. Too bad there aren't more ships around– it does the same with. . . other. . . ." His excitement faded as he spotted Captain Niriz walking toward them.  
  
"Lieutenant," Niriz said, fixing his gaze on her.  
  
What now? She hadn't done anything wrong today. . . had she? Blast it. There was only five minutes left of her shift– what else could this be about, if not that?  
  
"Yes, sir?" she asked cautiously.  
  
"May I have a private word with you, Lieutenant?"  
  
It was phrased like a question, but she knew better. "Of course, sir," she said, swallowing a sigh. She got to her feet.  
  
Niriz looked at Ray. "Cover the terminal, Ensign."  
  
Behind his glasses, Ray's eyes opened wide. "Me, sir?" he squeaked.  
  
Eyes going deliberately to the holo of the Admonitor, then back to Ray, he said, "You understand a sensor terminal, I assume?"  
  
"Y– yes, sir," Ray said. He was clearly fighting back a smile.   
  
Katy shot him a quick grin of her own as soon as Niriz turned, then hurried to follow the captain. At least one of them was happy.  
  
The captain led her into his office, just off the bridge. She stood stiffly as he circled his desk. "At ease, Katy," he said, sitting in his chair.  
  
Katy frowned slightly. Since when did Captain Niriz call her anything other than Lieutenant? Or Drake, perhaps, if he was feeling irritable?  
  
He sat there, watching her in silence, for what felt like ages. Finally, he sighed. "Katy. . . what happened yesterday?"  
  
Ah. And they were back to this. She should have guessed.  
  
"I lied." She took a deep breath, then quickly said, "I apologize, sir, it was a mistake. I meant no disrespect to you, I swear, sir." His brow creased slightly, and she said, "I am sorry, sir."  
  
"Apology accented." His eyes left her, turning to stare at something behind her. "Do you believe you deserve a month of scrubbing toilets, Katy?"  
  
Blast it. No, she didn't deserve it! But she did. She bit her lip. "Yes, sir," she said.  
  
"Have you gotten 'fresher duty before?"   
  
He was still looking over her shoulder. Damn it, what was he staring at?   
  
"No, sir," she said.  
  
He nodded shortly. "You realize you've never lied to me before this point?"  
  
Katy bit her lip. "Sir. . . it was a mistake. It won't happen again."  
  
"I suppose I'm expected to let you off, then."  
  
She frowned slightly. "Expected, sir?"  
  
"You realize Thrawn will have my ass for doing this to you?" he asked dryly.  
  
Her jaw dropped. "What? Sir. . . no, with all due respect, sir, there's not a chance of that." He said nothing, and Katy tried one more time. "He respects your decisions as Captain, sir."  
  
"And if he doesn't?"  
  
This was unbelievable. The captain thought Thrawn would side with her? Over him? "Sir," she said. "I'm a lieutenant. You're the captain. I think that's pretty clear."  
  
Niriz shrugged slightly. "Katy," he said. "I don't think you realize how far Thrawn would go to protect his wife."  
  
"Against toilets?" She stifled a giggle. "Begging your pardon, sir. Thrawn made his choice. He and I have agreed that on-duty is on-duty, and off is off. And. . . that's all there is to it." She grimaced slightly. "Besides. . . he said I was on my own. I didn't ask him to get me out of it– but he did say so."  
  
Niriz blinked. "He knows, then– of course he knows." He sighed. "I suppose I should speak to him about this."  
  
Katy frowned, and Niriz raised an eyebrow. "You disagree?"  
  
"Permission to speak freely, sir?"  
  
"Granted."  
  
She took a deep breath. "With all due respect, sir, I did something wrong. My captain issued a fair punishment." She met his eyes. "I see no reason why my husband's permission should be required. In fact, I think his interference would be against protocol, sir."  
  
Niriz smiled briefly. "As you wish, Lieutenant Drake. You may go."  
  
She nodded and turned to leave. At the doorway, he said, "Oh, and lieutenant."  
  
Katy turned back. "Yes, sir?"  
  
"I appreciate your sense of ethics. There aren't many that would fight for a month of 'fresher duty. You may take two weeks off your punishment."  
  
She stared at him a moment, and then a grin broke out on her face. "Thank you very much, Captain," she said.  
  
"Not so fond of scrubbing toilets, are you, Katy?"  
  
She grimaced. "It's horrible, sir."  
  
"Then I expect you'll learn your lesson." He nodded. "And you've been invited to eat with the senior officers tonight at 1800."  
  
"Eat with. . . ."  
  
"Everyone is curious, Katy," Niriz said.  
  
She was torn between a laugh and a groan. "I can't imagine why," she said wryly. "It isn't as if we completely and utterly shocked every person on this ship."  
  
"No, certainly not," Niriz replied in the same tone, then laughed. "Consider tonight a brief reprieve from your punishment. I can't very well keep them waiting two weeks."  
  
Katy wasn't so sure it would be that much of a reprieve, but she said, "Yes, sir."  
  
Well, this was going to be intereseting. . . . 


	6. FIVE

a/n: Here's the scoop, folks: I am going to be MIA this weekend. gotta visit the fam. . . so no updates between Fri afternoon and Sunday. Updates Sunday night! Maybe Friday afternoon if I come up with something special. sorry : (   
  
Owlet: hi! if you're reading this. . . aww. make me blush. yeah, i was up last night looking for something to read, and I saw your name, and i thought "hey! I know her!" I got a kick out of it. And yes. . . my story is fluffy. lol. i couldn't help it. I love thrawn. I love your Thrawn. *my hero* lol. I could make him fluffy for you. . . j/k. no, i liked it just the way it was. probly a bit more realistic than me . . . and i did write another little chap for "Thrawn's Daughter". It's coming along. SLOWLY. I swear, I'm having a mental block for that one. grr. anyway-- I don't know if you know there's a sequel to Favors. . . .let me know, or I'll have to email you and make you read it. sorry, sorry. . . that's my dr pepper talking. : )  
  
Jayla: you wrote 85%,remember? not ALL. GRR. you're embarrassing the lazy writer. . . lol. you're so right, though-- compliments, gym, DP and Jayla. . . man, what would I do without all them?? lol. speaking of gymtime... i should brave the weather and go, too. thanks about Ray- AWW, RAY, man i have plans for that kid- maybe i'll make the next party ; ) SEND ME YOUR STORY before I COMDP  
  
note to Forlorn that stuff jayla says about email. . . .it's true. sigh. what can I say? I'm a sucker for suckups (lol) and if someone keeps pestering me to FINISH CHAP 4 RIGHT NOW and insists on me sending it THREE separate times invarious stages of completion. . .. what can i do? anyone that obsessed (SOMDP, jayjay) deserves it.  
  
my roommate's folks are coming up tomorrow. . .. she's dustbusting our carpet. but DAMN! our carpet is clean! lynn just said, "Turbo. . . it sure busted that dust". . . i guess you had to be there. our carpet was horrible. i'm laughing so hard  
  
now, the mysery of the day: what sort of muffin did I just buy? hmm. I don't think those are chocolate chips. . .  
  
FIVE  
  
Katy took a deep breath, reached for the door cue. . . hesitated. //You're going to be late, Drake// Blast it, she didn't want to do this. Bad enough all the regular crewers stared and whispered about her. She didn't need the senior officers doing the same thing  
  
Well, her situation wasn't improving anytime fast. She cued the door, and it hissed open.  
  
The murmur of conversation died. A dozen officers all turned to watch her enter. Her blasted cheeks. . . flushing again. Knowing they could all see her turning red, she blushed worse. //Keep walking, Drake//  
  
Thrawn rose from his chair. "Ah," he said. "You're here." He gestured her forward.  
  
"Congratulations, Admiral," Colonel Hark called, raising a wine glass. Everyone echoed it.   
  
"Thank you," Thrawn said, pulling her seat out for her, then taking his own. "As I'm sure you can guess, this is my wife, Katyana Drake."  
  
Hark continued his roll of representative. "Congratulations to you as well, Lt. Drake."  
  
"Thank you, sir," she said faintly.  
  
"Can't say any of us saw this one coming," Hark said, taking a sip of wine. "No offense, of course, lieutenant."  
  
"I didn't see it coming, either, sir," she said dryly.  
  
Hark chuckled. "Isn't that always how it is."  
  
//You have no idea// She just smiled.  
  
Droids rolled out, carrying trays of food. It smelled absolutely delicious, and it tasted even better. Thrawn and the colonel became absorbed in discussion, leaving Katy to concentrate on the food.  
  
"Enjoying lunch?"  
  
She looked up, startled. An older man in a commander's uniform nodded politely to her. "I'm Commander Yearly," he said.  
  
"I know, sir," she said to the wing commander, giving him a smile. "And the food is amazing, Commander, thank you."  
  
He smiled back. "The captain went to great lengths to get a culinary-T4 droid," he said. "Worth the effort, in my opinion."  
  
"Oh, definitely," she agreed. "It certainly puts the Dewback Surprise downstairs to shame."  
  
General Corban, across the table, overheard and laughed. "I don't suppose you've ever been in a temporary ground force camp."  
  
She tilted her head curiously. "Yes, as a matter of fact, I have, sir."  
  
"How'd you like the rations there?"  
  
She grimaced involuntarily. "The protein slush, or the nutrient-enriched cardboard?"  
  
"Rather puts Star Destroyer mess halls into perspective, doesn't it." He grinned under his dark mustache. "Me, I was always a fan of the Dewback Surprise."  
  
"I prefer the soggy noodle salad myself, sir," she said dryly. "The flash-fried cheese sandwiches aren't so bad, either, if you can find a fresh one."  
  
"Go for the back, then," Corban said, finishing his wine and setting it down. "Be fast, though, or you'll toast your arm. So where were you groundside?"  
  
"I was on the Zenith during the Okka dispute. Spent some time on Okka-ray with the ground troops."  
  
"Why's that?"  
  
She frowned and poked at her dinner with her fork. "Droids don't do so well with all the clay dust on Okka-ray," she said with a shrug. "And clothes don't wash themselves."  
  
Corban leaned back, looking amused. "No kidding. How'd you get to the Admonitor's bridge, then?"  
  
"I graduated from the Academy qualified to fill any of the crew positions on the bridge," she said. "I was on the Zenith as an aide, and the sensor officer ended up injured during a battle." She shrugged. "I took over and I've been doing it ever since."  
  
At the end of the table, a different voice spoke. "I heard that you served as the temporary commander of the Clarion when the command crew was killed in a battle."  
  
Her head jerked up. The speaker was a major she didn't recognize. The entire table was watching and listening to her, including Thrawn. Blast it. She went scarlet. "I didn't realize that was. . . ah, known," she said, shifting uncomfortably.   
  
"It isn't," the major said. "Not widely. My nephew served aboard the Clarion during that time. He spoke of you highly. In fact, he said that you would be a significantly higher rank if things weren't so. . . biased."  
  
She could feel Thrawn's eyes on her, but she didn't look at him. Clearing her throat, she said, "That was kind of him. What was his name, sir?"  
  
"Darby Hex."  
  
She blinked. "You're kidding. Darby said that? He hated me!"  
  
The major's mouth twitched into a smile. "He never liked competition, I'm afraid."  
  
"Yeah, I noticed that," she said. "What's he doing now, anyway? Still on the Clarion?"  
  
"Mm-hmm. He's the captain."  
  
"Really? I figured he'd end up captaining something eventually."  
  
There was a moment of silence, and then Thrawn cleared his throat. "Why have you never applied for a promotion?"  
  
She sighed. "Who says I didn't?" There was a beat of silence, and she reluctantly said, "I did. A couple of times." She rolled her eyes. "And they transferred me here."  
  
Colonel Hark laughed. "You've been here from the beginning, though, haven't you? And you didn't even try?" He grinned faintly. "It isn't as if there's anywhere worse to be shipped off to."  
  
"Grand Admiral Thrawn crammed this ship full of the best he could find," she said dryly. "I didn't think I could compete, I suppose."  
  
Corban chuckled. "Changed your mind already, eh?"  
  
She snorted, hoping she wasn't being too forward with her superiors. Ah, well– they invited her, after all. "I'm well aware that I'd never so much as win a game of holochess," she said. She glanced sideways at Thrawn, then said, "I haven't been proven wrong yet."  
  
There were a few laughs. "If you're comparing yourself to the Admiral," Corbain said, "Good luck. That'll be the day, when anyone wins a holochess game against him."  
  
Colonel Hark folded his arms and regarded her a moment. "I'd be willing to do some sim drills with you," he said.  
  
She blinked in surprise. Sims drills with the Colonel? *Her*? "With all due respect," she said, brow creased, "what purpose would that serve?"  
  
He shrugged. "Well, if you want to get promoted, it'll be helpful to know."  
  
Promoted? Now they were talking about promoting her? Blast it, why did the universe have to keep testing her like this? "But—" She shook her head. "I appreciate the offer, Colonel, I do. But. . . it's a little late to get promoted now, don't you think?"  
  
Hark looked taken aback. "Late? Why?"  
  
"Why? Don't you realize what people will say if I'm promoted now?" She blushed, just thinking about it. "The crew loves Thrawn. . . but if he starts playing favorites–" Thrawn frowned at her, and she said, "All right, if they *think* he's playing favorites. . . it's not really a good situation, right?"  
  
There was no answer. She cleared her throat. "And besides that, it's too embarrassing. I'm not taking a promotion I wouldn't have gotten if I hadn't married him. I won't even consider it."  
  
Corban chuckled. "Just like you won't get out of scrubbing toilets, right?"  
  
Sith take it. Did everybody know about that? She flinched. "That. . . well, I. . . right."  
  
"You're a good woman, lieutenant," Hark said. "Maybe you'll change your mind."  
  
"About 'freshers?" She grimaced. "Believe me, sir, they're horrible. My mind won't change about *that*." She shot a brief look at Captain Niriz, who smiled faintly. "And I don't think the captain will let me have any more time taken off it."  
  
Hark chuckled. "I meant the promotion, lieutenant."  
  
*** 


	7. SIX

a/n: hey, I'm back. . . . and what an entertaining weekend I had, at that. spent several hours christmas shopping, and I got exactly one present- a Finding Nemo poster for my sister. but i got new shoes! yippee. anyway. . . yeah, my roomie's got a guy in our dorm. . . grr. he's not exactly a hottie, either. And Neila- happy belated birthday!  
  
SIX  
  
Katy stood up from the sensor terminal with a yawn. Time for 'fresher duty. More fun. "I need a vacation," she muttered.  
  
"You just had one, Lieutenant," a voice said behind her.  
  
With a yelp, Katy jumped. "Captain," she said, turning around. "You startled me, sir."  
  
Niriz looked at her a moment, then said, "I have an assignment for you."  
  
"Oh. . . excellent, sir," she said unenthusiastically. "Before 'freshers, or after?"  
  
"After." From his pocket, he produced a datacard. "Colonel Hark wants you to complete this by 1600 tomorrow."  
  
She had a very strong feeling that this was not going to be fun. Taking the card, she said, "Ah. . . what is it, sir?"  
  
Niriz smiled faintly. "For your own good, I recommend you don't look until you've finished the 'freshers."  
  
Blast it. "It's painful, then."  
  
The captain just shrugged. "I also recommend you don't dawdle."  
  
"Excellent," she sighed. Slipping the card into her pocket, she said, "I look forward to it, sir."  
  
Three hours later, she dragged herself back down to the suite. She wanted nothing more than to just crawl into bed. . . provided she could get herself into the bedroom. Even the couch would be nice.  
  
She stopped in the doorway, staring in disbelief. The main room was clean, the crates gone. She rubbed her eyes. Had she lost her mind? Nothing remained of the mess, save three large piles of neatly folded clothes.   
  
Thrawn stood just behind the piles, looking quite pleased with himself. "My hero," she said, breaking to a grin. Then, brow creasing, she said, "You didn't throw it all away, did you?"  
  
"Don't be silly." He waved at the piles. "It's put away. This is all that's left."  
  
She walked closer. "Why are they sorted?"  
  
"Well, we have three categories," he said. "These are still wearable." He nodded at the nearest pile. "Those are. . . able to be mended." He shot the second pile a dubious look and shrugged. He indicated the third pile. "And those there have earned the right to be put out of their misery, I think."  
  
"What!" Indignantly, she grabbed the top shirt. "This is my favorite! I've had it for years– oh! You can't throw out my sweatpants! I love those!"  
  
Thrawn snorted, eyeing the fuzzy blue things. "There's a large hole in the backside–"  
  
"You could have put them in the 'able to be mended' pile," she said, tossing them into the correct pile.  
  
"Katy, my dear," he said. "Are you aware that your taste in clothing is. . . abysmal?"  
  
She let her eyes wander over his uniform. "Well, at least I wear real clothes once in awhile, Admiral," she said loftily, rolling her eyes. "Excuse me. I have yet more grunt work to do– this time for Colonel Hark." She turned toward the bedroom.  
  
The control panel glowed when she opened the panel. Her hand hovered over the keys. 489 something. She was almost positive.  
  
"Problem?" Thrawn murmured in her ear.  
  
She squeaked, jumping right back into him. "Sith!" she said, trying to elbow him in the stomach. "Why do you always *do* that?"  
  
He wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on her shoulder. "You're too skittish, sweetheart." Sliding one hand down, he hooked his thumb in the band of her pants and tugged gently. "Bedroom, Katy."  
  
Her heart was thudding. Bedroom. Yes, that sounded like a good plan to her. "Oh," she said. "Yes. . . okay."  
  
"Or don't you know the code?" he murmured in her ear, running his other hand up her tunic.  
  
She swallowed. "I. . . do," she said. She punched in the first three digits.  
  
"Almost there," Thrawn breathed in her ear. His hand crept higher.  
  
To Sith with this. She punched in a 2 and a 1.  
  
Thrawn buried his face in her hair and started laughing. "Katy. Vek'ner, Katy."  
  
The red 'incorrect' light blinked at her. "Blast it! I quit! You WIN, you blasted piece of garbage! Let me in!"  
  
And Thrawn's comm began to beep. He picked it up, and Katy promptly snatched it from his hand. Thumbing it on, she said, "I have the memory of a gundark. So sue me."  
  
There was a long silence. Finally, someone cleared his throat. "Lieutenant Drake, I presume?"  
  
"Uh. . . ." She felt Thrawn snort into her hair again and said, "This isn't Security?"  
  
"You have to get it wrong again before Security is notified," Thrawn informed her as the comm said, "No, this is Commander Yearly."  
  
She groaned. "Sith," she said, shoving the comm back into Thrawn's hand.  
  
He released her reluctantly. "This is Thrawn," he said. He listened a moment, frowned, then reached for the control panel. "I see. . . ." The door swung open, and he gestured her in. *One minute* he mouthed. "Yes. . . .no, absolutely not. They must be fully charged. . . ."  
  
Katy rolled her eyes. One minute. Sure. She went into the room and the lights blinked on immediately. Well, she did have something to occupy her time, courtesy of Colonel Hark. She located a datapad sitting on the nightstand and sat down on the bed. What Hark could want with her, she couldn't imagine. . . .  
  
She slid the card in and turned the datapad on. Immediately, text filled the screen. As she scanned the contents, her eyes widened in dismay. "Oh, no," she said. "This has to be a joke."  
  
If it was a joke, he sure put a lot of effort into it. Blast it. She scrubbed a hand over her face and groaned.   
  
"What's wrong, sweetheart?" Less than a minute– she as impressed.  
  
Katy gave the datapad a baleful look. "Calculus– and vectors– and– I don't even *know* what the rest of that is! This– tell me this is a joke."  
  
Thrawn walked over and picked up the datapad. As he read, his eyebrows went up. "This is your 'grunt work' from the colonel?"  
  
"Unless Captain Niriz is playing a very cruel joke on me," she said. She looked up at him. "You don't know anything about this?"  
  
Thrawn shook his head, sitting down. "He appears to be testing you."  
  
"Yeah. Obviously. He sent me a take-home exam. Due 1600 tomorrow."  
  
"Interesting." Thrawn looked at the datapad again, then said, "You're right. . . that is on the cruel side."  
  
"Does Hark hate me?" she asked sourly. "I thought he liked me."  
  
Thrawn chuckled, setting the datapad in her lap. "I thought so as well. I'll see what I can find out at tonight's meeting."  
  
"Tonight?" She groaned again. "You're going to be gone tonight?"  
  
"Sorry, sweetheart."  
  
"Blast it. . . there's a reason I took advanced math theory *three times* in the Academy."  
  
Thrawn lifted an eyebrow. "Three times?"  
  
"I swear, Thrawn," she said. "If you tell me you tested out or something. . . ." She growled.  
  
"Calm, my dear, calm." He leaned forward, lightly pressing his mouth to hers. Then, standing, he said, "Let me know if you need help before I leave.  
  
"Thrawn?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"I need help."  
  
He laughed. "You haven't started yet, Katy."  
  
"Thrawn, I haven't the faintest clue what. . . what is that f thingy there?"  
  
Thrawn glanced at the display, then said, "Katy. . . that's an integral."  
  
"A what?"  
  
"An antiderivative."  
  
She frowned. "An *anti*derivative? So. . . that. . . .fights off a derivative?"  
  
Her husband stared at her for a very long pause. Finally, he said, "Vek'ner."  
  
"If you like that, you'll love this." She cleared her throat. "Derivatives are. . . ah. . . you derive. . . stuff. . . by, um. . . there's an 'n' in there somewhere. . . there's always an 'n' in calculus."  
  
"I think you're in trouble, my dear."  
  
She grimaced. "Bring me my fuzzy sweatpants with the big hole on the butt, Thrawn. I wore them to my math final and passed– I'm going to need all the luck I can get." 


	8. SEVEN

SEVEN  
  
"Math problems, Colonel?"  
  
Hark looked up from his datapad. Seeing Thrawn's upraised eyebrows, he shrugged. "Basics for navigation, vectors, that sort of thing."  
  
Thrawn pulled out a chair and sat down at the conference table. "When I gave you permission to consider eventually training with her. . . I did not think 'eventually' meant 'tomorrow'. And for that matter, that 'training' meant 'math.'" He raised an eyebrow again. "Though with you, Colonel, perhaps I should have."  
  
Hark chuckled. "The math is useful. And it improves problem solving skills."  
  
"I realize that. And a stress test, perhaps?"  
  
The colonel shrugged. "Work, 'freshers, a great deal of math. . . it'd be interesting to see how she manages it all."  
  
"Interesting for you, perhaps," Thrawn said with a snort. "I, on the other hand, was threatened with bodily harm as I left."  
  
Hark laughed, then stifled it. "I see," he said. "Well, if you would prefer, Admiral, I can move on to AT-AT sims immediately."  
  
"AT-AT sims," Thrawn repeated.  
  
"Yes, sir. And once she has an idea of their capabilities, then we can work on using them in battle."  
  
Thrawn sighed. He could imagine his wife's reaction already. "Colonel Hark," he said carefully. "You did hear what she said last night."  
  
"I believe she asked what the point was, Admiral." Hark shrugged. "There's no harm in it. And it will give her a head start when she changes her mind."  
  
"If she changes her mind." Thrawn shook his head. "Which she has not done overnight, I assure you."  
  
The colonel leaned back in his chair. "There's no harm in asking her to sim with a few soldiers. I'm sure they'll volunteer easily enough."  
  
True enough. Thrawn sighed. "Perhaps not."  
  
"Excellent." The colonel looked like he had just been granted a month's ground leave. "I think tomorrow I'll see what she makes of some of the more complicated hyperspace equations." Thrawn frowned, and he said, "Is that a problem, sir?"  
  
"Well, only that I'm sealing my own death warrant by agreeing to *that*," Thrawn said. "I have no comment."  
  
Hark laughed. "I'm sure she'll do fine, sir."  
  
"When in doubt, make it 'n'," Thrawn said. "I hope you don't mind that letter, Colonel– I suspect you'll be seeing it a great deal when you correct her work." He tried not to laugh. Poor Katy. She had caught on easily enough during the few minutes he had tried to refresh her memory, but the math she was doing was not something one could completely understand with only ten minutes of instruction. He would have to help her when the meeting ended tonight. The others would be arriving shortly, and perhaps he could get it over quickly.  
  
Before Hark could answer, Thrawn's comm went off. "Excuse me," he said, pulling the cylinder out and thumbing it on. "Thrawn here."  
  
"This is Niriz. We have a problem in Shipping, sir."  
  
A problem in Shipping that required Thrawn's assistance? That was something that didn't happen very often. "What problem, Captain?"  
  
"There seems to be a. . . well, a pack of creatures loose in the main storage facility."  
  
A frown creased his face. "A pack of *creatures*?" he repeated. Hark's eyebrows shot up, and Thrawn shrugged. "Explain, Captain."  
  
"Well. . . the Shipping manager called a moment ago. He sealed off the wing. Apparently, there are seven of these creatures roaming through the facility, chewing up supplies and frightening crewers."  
  
"I'll be down in one moment, Captain." He pushed back his chair. "Colonel, tell the others that this meeting is postponed until 0800 tomorrow."  
  
Hark nodded. "Yes, sir. May I ask. . . ."  
  
"It seems we picked up a few extra items with our latest shipment," Thrawn said, getting to his feet. "Hopefully, they've not gotten into anything crucial quite yet."  
  
Several minutes later, he joined Captain Niriz and Major Feldman, the shipping manager, in the main office overlooking the storage facility. "I have no idea where they came from," Feldman said, watching in obvious distress as one of the meter-long black-scaled creatures clawed at the top of a crate. "What are they, sir?"  
  
"I don't know, Major," Thrawn said, frowning as the claws pierced the plasteel crate. It looked reptilian, but their speed suggested it was warm-blooded. "Which shipment did they come in with?"  
  
"The latest. It came in from Istav just two hours ago."  
  
"Sithspawn," Niriz murmured, watching the creature tear the lid open with its jaws. It ducked its head and came out with several silver ration packet clutched between its sharp teeth. "How do seven of those things get shipped *accidentally*? The rebels on Istav. . . ."  
  
Thrawn shook his head slowly. "The Istav rebels are more pragmatic than that. The effort is too great for any reward. . . no, this is a distraction."  
  
"A distraction?" Niriz frowned. "A distraction from what?"  
  
"What else was delivered today?" Thrawn asked, turning to Feldman. "Undamaged cartons."  
  
Feldman frowned, looking down at his datapad. After a moment, he said, "There were ten crates in all. Four contained those creatures."  
  
Thrawn nodded. "And the status of the crates now?"  
  
"Of the six. . . five remain intact. The other contained some sort of meat product. . . well, that's ruined."  
  
"Check the security recordings. Have the undamaged ones been opened since their arrival?"  
  
Feldman had to get on the comm for that. Niriz turned to Thrawn and said, "You think someone snuck in with them, sir?"  
  
Thrawn glanced out the window again. A second creature had joined the first in the ration crate. "I can't say what those things are," Thrawn said, "but I know they aren't native to Istav. They were sent deliberately. What they are distracting us from. . . yes, someone is here."  
  
Niriz reached for his comm. "I'll alert Security.  
  
"No, Captain." Thrawn shook his head slowly. "Let's not alert our visitor quite yet."  
  
Feldman put his comm away. "Sir, the crates are undisturbed."  
  
Before Thrawn could answer, his comm began to beep. Flicking it on, he said, "Thrawn."  
  
"Sir, this is Security," a voice said, sounding sheepish. "Another false alarm?"  
  
Thrawn frowned. "What alarm?"  
  
"Your bedchambers, sir," the young man in Security said. "There was another flag."  
  
*Katy*. A wave of alarm hit him. She was already *in* the bedroom. Why would she lock herself out? Could she have forgotten the code already?   
  
No. "I'll get back to you," Thrawn said, his voice carefully controlled. He flicked to a different frequency and said, "Katy."  
  
Ten very long seconds passed before his wife answered. "This is Drake," she said. She sounded tense.  
  
"Katy? What happened?"  
  
"Thrawn?" she asked. "I thought you had a meeting."  
  
"I got a call from Security. Is there a problem?"  
  
She paused. "Yes, yes, of course," she said. "I don't mind if the meeting runs long."  
  
"Katy. Is there someone in there with you?"  
  
"Mm-hmm. Ray is helping me with my homework."  
  
"And someone else?"  
  
She cleared her throat. "Yep. It's not so bad, though. I can handle it."  
  
"Security–"  
  
"No, I'm doing fine," she said quickly. "I'll see you when the meeting is over. I have to go finish my work."  
  
"How many?"  
  
"Just one hour or so," she said.  
  
One. "Armed?"  
  
"Don't know. Just let me get back to it."  
  
The comm went dead, and Thrawn said, "Sithspawn." 


	9. EIGHT

a/n: ah. . . it's now 5 o'clock, and my roommate's finally dragging herself out of bed. . . lol. not much happening here, except that I finally got that evil frozen pepsi to come out of the freezer. 30 days and counting til end of semester!!  
  
Kimara: lol. everyone hates my cliffhangers. . . . :D i know suspense is awful, but please don't die!!  
  
anyone have any brilliant ideas for christmas presents for my mama?? lol. I'm desperate. i've done coffee-themed presents for too many years now.  
  
EIGHT  
  
The balkaron nudged her with its nose horn with a distressed whistling noise. "Oh, hush, Lady," Rya Weiss said, pushing the scaly nose face away from her neck. "It's only a little dark. Don't whine."  
  
The balkaron whistled again but sat down again in the corner of the crate, laying its head in Rya's lap. Rya pressed a button on her chrono, making the display light with a brief flash of green. Two hours since they'd been unloaded from the cargo shuttle. "What do you say, Lady?" she asked. "Have we waited long enough?"  
  
She was ignored. "I think so," Rya said. Clicking her tongue, she said, "Go on, Lady. Get out."  
  
Lady lunged to her feet. Rya could hear her scratching furiously at the inside of the crate. Within seconds, light came pouring in through gashes in the plasteel. Lady growled, using her jaw to rip the hole larger.  
  
The balkaron bounded out into the storage room. Rya didn't move, waiting for her eyes to adjust. When she could see, she peeked out. Yes, the droid had done its job. Her crate sat among a sea of crates, most stacked far high than hers. The holocams were not at angle to see her.  
  
Laughing to herself, Rya looked down at the deck. Only one crate below her. Excellent, excellent. She hopped down, landing silently. Nobody in sight. She straightened, smoothing the wrinkles out of her Imperial lieutenant's uniform. Getting the proper insignia plaque had been a pain in the backside. Admiral Thrawn didn't want to use traditional insignia– no, he had to have his very own system. Well, she'd managed.  
  
Walking down the row of crates marked with the blue Istav Shipping icon, she rapped on the sides, waiting to hear the scratching of claws before moving on. Then, satisfied, she turned in the direction of the Supervisor's office and began to run.  
  
She spotted a man near the doorway and yelled. The man jumped. "Lieutenant! What happened?"  
  
She ran right to him and pushed him through the door. "Sithspawn," she gasped, cuing the door closed. "There's– there are– things– Sith!"  
  
The man– a major by his uniform– looked confused. "Things? Lieutenant, calm down and tell me what the hell is going on."  
  
"They– sharp claws– out in the crates– I saw them."  
  
He still looked confused. Stupid man. She stabbed a finger at the door. "Lizards. Big lizards. With claws. Out there."  
  
"Sithspawn."  
  
"Yeah," she said. "Sithspawn. Do something!"  
  
Through the window, he saw Lady and his eyes bugged out. She did look fearsome, Rya thought, trying not to grin. The balkarons were trained since birth to obey humans– and all beings resembling them– but the Imps didn't have to know that.   
  
The major grabbed his comm and began yelling for the captain. Rya took advantage of his distraction to slip away. The major didn't even notice. She shook her head. Nobody could compete with the Imps for good old fashioned incompetence nowadays.  
  
She didn't get a second look heading down the corridor away. A moment of wandering and she found the turbolift. She joined a young lieutenant waiting for the same lift. "Hi," she said, smiling.  
  
He glanced over and nodded. "Hey."  
  
That was it. Just 'hey'. Fun people, these Imps. "So," she said. "You know anything about a lieutenant named Katyana Drake?"  
  
Now the guy chuckled. "Yeah, who doesn't. Pretty crazy, huh?"  
  
"It certainly is," Rya said. Drake, Ms. Popular? That was definitely one of the crazier things she had ever heard. "You're a friend of hers?"  
  
"Nah. Never met her," the lieutenant said. "I work in Finance. Not much contact with anybody on the bridge."  
  
Rya nodded slowly. So she'd gotten a position in the control center of the bridge. Typical. A random lieutenant knew who she was. . . odd.  
  
"Why?" the lieutenant asked. "You looking for her?"  
  
Rya shook her head. If Drake found out that she was here. . . that would be interesting. "Just curious."  
  
"Yeah, no kidding. Weirdest thing I've ever heard. You would have figured there would have been rumors or *something* before. . . ." He shrugged. "But then, it's Admiral Thrawn, right? I guess if he didn't want rumors, he'd find a way to keep it quiet."  
  
"I wouldn't put it past him," Rya said, trying to process that. Drake, with Admiral Thrawn? Right. Miss Perfect would never get herself involved with a senior officer. This guy had to be misinformed.  
  
Before she could get anything else out of him, the turbolift slid open. The lieutenant stiffened slightly at the sight of the lone occupant, a blue-skinned man in an Admiral's uniform. Admiral Thrawn, headed for the Shipping bay already? He worked fast.  
  
He passed them without half a glance. Rya had to fight back a smirk. Imps. They made things so simple. Stepping into the empty lift car, Rya said, "Where are you off to?"  
  
"Deck 42, sector 4."  
  
She keyed for his destination, then chose one farther away to serve as her own. They rode in silence until the lieutenant said, "So. . . what's your name?"  
  
"Weiss. Rya Weiss."  
  
"I'm Darren Kilvert."  
  
She nodded, watching the locator. Almost there. The lift slid to a stop. "Well, I'll talk to you later," Rya said as he stepped out.  
  
As soon as the door closed again, she canceled her destination and put in a slightly different one.   
  
A minute later, the door slid open again. The corridor here was completely empty. Of course it was– according to the schematics, there was nothing in this area but the Admiral's chambers.  
  
She found the mammoth blast door with no trouble at all. There was no control panel to slice into, no way at all to cue it open. Her eyes drifted up. There. A tiny black box with an even tinier green light hung above the door– a bio scanner, most likely, designed to admit only the admiral. Clever.  
  
She had come prepared, though. She reached into her pocket and pulled out what looked like a commlink. Off all her little toys, this one was her favorite. She clicked it on, focused it on the little scanner, and began.  
  
A holo appeared above the 'commlink', showing a rapidly scrolling line of numbers. Then, abruptly, it stopped, a single frequency floating in front of her eyes. Rya clicked another button, and the scanner itself projected a hologram.  
  
In red text, the holo demanded a passcode. Not so surprising, from a man with a bio-scanner lock. Rya replaced her freq scanner and bent down. From her boot, she pulled out what looked to be a thicker-than-usual datapad stylus. She twisted the end, and a little light went on at the tip. Rya aimed it at the scanner and thumbed the button.  
  
The holo requested a passcode flickered, then vanished. In its place, she saw the BioTech Systems Corp. logo. She grinned as it changed. THANK YOU FOR PURCHASING A BIOSCAN 4000, the holo said.  
  
"Ooh, 4000," she murmured. "Fun. Haven't seen one of those yet."  
  
PLEASE SELECT A FEATURE.  
  
She scanned her options, then said, "Let's set this to 'Door Controls'."  
  
ACCEPTED. DO YOU WISH TO ADD AN ENTRY NOW?  
  
"Yes."  
  
PLEASE STATE YOUR DESIGNATION.  
  
"Rya Weiss."  
  
YOU ARE BEING SCANNED. DO NOT MOVE. So she didn't move. RYA WEISS HAS BEEN ADDED TO ENTRY LIST. DO YOU WISH TO ADD ANOTHER ENTRY?  
  
"No, I'm good, thanks. Let me in."  
  
The door hissed open, and she laughed. "I never get tired of this," she said, walking into what appeared to be an empty room.   
  
The interior door was nowhere near as stubborn as the outer door. It slid open at her approach without any request for a passcode.  
  
Inside, the chamber was wide and well-lit. The admiral had a bank of repeater displays centered around what looked like some sort of large chair. A very nice entertainment system on the other side of the room. And a door was hanging open in the back, next to a big purple plant.  
  
Through the door, she could see a young man with huge, goofy glasses sitting on a chair beside the bed. And there was Drake sitting on a bed, surrounded by papers and scribbling on another sheet.  
  
Well, well. Perhaps her friend from the turbolift wasn't as misinformed as Rya had assumed. She strolled over to the doorway.  
  
"Um. . . ." Drake was saying. "So we have to use the derivative. . . on *u*?"  
  
The young man nodded. "Right. Which is. . . ?"  
  
"Sith, Ray," Drake said. "If you don't know, how should I?"  
  
"It's your homework!"  
  
Drake giggled. "I'm just kidding. Derivatives. . . um. . . so four x. . . plus two, right?"  
  
Rya stopped in the doorway and cleared her throat. The young man, Ray, leapt to his feet, and Katy nearly tumbled right off the bed. "Hello, Drake," Rya said dryly.  
  
Drake's mouth dropped open further than Rya had thought anatomically possible. "Sithspawn!" she gasped. "What– how– but–"  
  
"Well spoken." She eyed the goofy-looking young man, then turned back to Drake. "So it's true. I hardly believe it, Katyana. Fraternizing with your superiors? You?" She smirked. "But here you are."  
  
Drake flushed. "Rya. . . blast it all, Rya, what are you *doing* here?"  
  
Rya glanced at the goofy man and said, "Beat it. Stay in the outer room."  
  
Nervously, Ray– Drake had called him that– looked at Drake. She nodded reluctantly, and Ray slipped out.   
  
"What are you doing here, Rya?" Drake asked, colder this time. "And how the blazes did you get in here?"  
  
Rya snorted. "Trade secret, sister dearest. I need information." She crossed the room to a bookcase near the corner.   
  
"Then you're out of luck," Drake said, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed. "I have no idea how you got onboard, but you'd better get right back off if you don't want to get arrested. Thrawn's going to throw a fit."  
  
Bracing her shoulder against the bookcase, Rya said, "I'll be gone soon enough." She threw her weight into it, and the bookcase slid over, leaving scratches in the hardwood floor.  
  
"You just sit there, Drake. And don't try anything funny."   
  
"Nice. You get that out of the holovids?"  
  
Drake climbed up and followed her to the door. "Rya, seriously, you need to leave."  
  
"I'm hurt. Don't you want to visit first?" She rolled her eyes again, heading to the repeater banks. He had to store his information in there somewhere. "Bugger off before I have to hurt you, Katy."  
  
Ray was standing right outside the door, looking pale. Rya frowned at him, then said, "Interesting company you keep, by the way. The admiral's not so bad to look at, I guess, even if he *is* an Imp. But what's with this fella?"  
  
The young man flushed brightly, and Drake scowled. "Don't make me call Security, Rya."  
  
Rya stopped at the computer banks and glanced over them. "You guys have some decent equipment on this ship, considering the hellhole you're assigned to," she said, recalling the system from its suspension.  
  
"I'm calling." Drake pulled out her comm.  
  
Rya sighed and ducked, pulling her compact blaster from her boot. "Katy, I'm not playing around,"Rya said, aiming at the other woman. "Put that away."  
  
Drake stared at the blaster, then slapped her comm down on a nearby repeater display. "When you get caught, I'm not going to help you."  
  
"You wouldn't have regardless." Rya frowned as she looked through the files on her station. "These are all. . . *art*? Sith."  
  
With a snort, Drake said, "This is where he studies art, o brilliant mercenary."  
  
Rya continued scrolling. "Or he's hidden the real data behind this nonsense."  
  
"Sure. That's right."  
  
And then her comm began to trill. Rya's head snapped up. "One of you called an alarm!"  
  
"And when did we have time to do *that*?" Drake snorted. "Honestly, Rya. If we called an alarm, stormtroopers would be rushing in about now. Not calling to make sure it was a convenient time." She snatched up the comm.  
  
Rya aimed her blaster at Drake's face, but the idiot ignored it. Flicking it on, she said, "This is Drake." She listened a moment, scowling at Rya, and said, "Thrawn? I thought you had a meeting."  
  
Her admiral was calling now? Was that a coincidence? She clicked the safety off. Drake looked from Rya to the comm, then smiled. The blasted woman was right– if Rya shot her, Thrawn would know something was wrong.  
  
"Yes, yes, of course," Drake said, ignoring Rya. "I don't mind if the meeting runs long."  
  
Of course she didn't. Why would she want her admiral knowing about Rya? She lowered the blaster. "Mm-hmm," Drake went on. "Ray is helping me with my homework." She listened, then cleared her throat. "Yep. It's not so bad, though. I can handle it. . . no, I'm doing fine. I'll see you when the meeting is over. I have to go finish my work. . . Just an hour or so. . . Don't know. Just let me get back to it." She thumbed her comm off. To Ray, she said, "I swear, the man thinks I can't do math to save my life."  
  
"You can't," Rya snorted. She shifted her aim to the face with the big glasses. "Now. Tell me where he keeps his important files."  
  
She paled slightly. "I don't know."  
  
"Drake, the safety's already off. I don't feel like killing children, but if I have to. . . ."  
  
"I don't *know*!" She clenched her fists. "Damn you, we've only been married for a few *days*! I don't know where he puts his classified stuff!"  
  
Rya's eyebrows shot up. "Married? Well, fancy that. Congratulations." The blaster didn't waver. "Now. Take a guess. Where might these files be?"  
  
"Ah. . . I don't know! They must be in there somewhere."  
  
Rya sighed and put the safety back on. "You're useless." She shoved the blaster in her waistband and said, "So how have you been, Katy?"  
  
"I was just great until you showed up," Drake said coolly, watching as Rya turned back to the computer. "What are you looking for?"  
  
"Information."  
  
"I noticed. On what?"  
  
Rya managed to view the computer codes, looking for hidden files. "On the Stargazer," she said, flicking through the code rapidly. She was running out of time.  
  
She heard a strangled gasp and looked up. Drake was staring at her funny-looking companion, clearly startled. "What's the Stargazer?" Drake demanded.  
  
"Good question," Rya said. "Maybe your friend knows."  
  
"Y-you won't find anything here," Ray said, nervously pushing his bulky glasses up his nose. "That's r-really classified. It's not even on the ship's computer."  
  
Rya slowly turned away from the computers. "Extra classified, huh?"  
  
"Y-yes."  
  
Drake sighed. "Ray, hush. Don't talk to her."  
  
"It's okay," Ray said to Drake. "She won't be able to get a hold of any of it, and I don't know very much."  
  
"Okay, then." Rya smiled tightly. "Ensign– you're an ensign, right?" Ray nodded uncertainly, and she said, "Ensign. You're going to get me that information. Pronto."  
  
Ray shook his head. "You must be crazy!"  
  
"She is," Drake muttered.  
  
"I am," Rya agreed. "Absolutely batty. Now, you're going to go get me that blasted data, little man, or I'll shoot her."  
  
His eyes widened. "B-but– the admiral would have you executed! You wouldn't."  
  
"She would," Drake said shortly, giving Rya a scathing look. "She thinks she's the Boba Fett of the mercenary world. She thinks she'll get away with it."  
  
Rya smirked. "Boba Fett is the Rya Weiss of the bounty hunting world," she corrected. "And I *wil* get away with it. I've gotten away from worse people than Admiral Thrawn." She looked at Ray. "The question is, Ensign Ray, whether the two of you want to be alive to see it. It's your decision." 


	10. NINE

NINE  
  
The door didn't open. Thrawn frowned up at the scanner. It was still there, the little power light glowing green. "It's not working," he said, ice washing through him.  
  
Niriz shot him a worried look. "What now? Is there another way in?"  
  
"Yes. This way."  
  
They hurried down the corridor and around the corner. Thrawn stopped in the middle of the hall and turned toward the bulkhead, frowning. This was it. His emergency exit. "Here," he said, crouching down. He used his fingernails to pry a floor panel up, then shoved it out of the way.  
  
There was a drop beneath this panel. Niriz looked down into the dark pit uneasily. "Where does this go?"  
  
"It runs under the deck for about ten meters. Don't worry." He dropped down and stood, the deck now at eye level. "Come." He ducked down and started into the tunnel.  
  
He heard Niriz following a moment later. "Maybe we should call Security," the captain suggested uneasily.   
  
"You don't have to come." Lit dimly from the gap in the deck, Thrawn found his way to the end of the emergency passage. He groped over his head and found the metal wheel. Twisted it, then pushed up.  
  
It didn't budge. Thrawn loosened the wheel further and shoved the hatch. Stuck. He rammed his shoulder against the metal panel. It rose, just slightly, then slammed shut. "Blast it," he said. "It's blocked."  
  
"Blocked?" Niriz demanded. "Who would know about this passage?"  
  
Good question. Thrawn didn't answer. He had two options now– wait for Engineering to find a way to rig his door open, or get in this way through brute force. "Vek'ner," he muttered. He took a deep breath, then said, "Help me. It's the bookcase. We can tip it over."  
  
"Sir. . . with all due respect," Niriz said carefully, "are you sure that's a good idea?"  
  
Thrawn was spared from answering by the sound of something heavy scraping the floor just above their heads. "Back," Thrawn whispered, taking several steps backward himself.  
  
And then the panel was pried open from above. A square of light appeared, followed by a head. "Holy Sith," Katy said. "There's a tunnel. Thrawn? Are you down there?"  
  
"I'm here," he said, and she squeaked in surprise. "What's going on in there?"  
  
"I'm coming out," she said, climbing into the tunnel with them. "That girl is blasted nuts. She took off with Ray. Let's get out of here."  
  
Thrawn yanked the hatch closed behind her. "What girl? What did she want?"  
  
"What's a stargazer?"  
  
Thrawn froze, and in front of him, Niriz had stopped as well. "What?" Thrawn asked, feeling a chill.  
  
"She wanted information on some stargazer." Katy shook her head. "You better tell Security and catch her. . . just make sure she doesn't shoot Ray. Because she will if you push her."  
  
"Ray?" Niriz demanded. "Who is *Ray*?"  
  
"Ensign Hemmons," Thrawn said.  
  
"*Hemmons*? From Engineering? The kid that *handles* the Stargazer data?"  
  
Thrawn gritted his teeth. "Let's get out of here. Katy– *who* is she?"  
  
"Um. . . well. . . her name is Rya Weiss."  
  
"Rya Weiss?" Niriz sounded skeptical. "What, she introduced herself?"  
  
Katy made a distressed-sounding noise. "Yeah. . . um, actually I sort of. . . well, know her. Sort of."  
  
"*Sort of*?" Niriz, still hunched over in the tunnel, turned to stare at her. "You *sort of* know her? Good Sith!"  
  
Thrawn could just faintly see her cheeks flush. "It's not something I'm happy about, okay?" she snapped. "Can we *please* get out of this place and rescue Ray?"  
  
"What happened?" Thrawn asked as Niriz began moving again. Thrawn reached for her shadowy outline and found her hand. "Are you okay?"  
  
"Fine, fine," she said, squeezing his hand. "She. . .I don't know. She did something to that bio-scanner thing and locked everybody out, and I couldn't make it open to let me out."  
  
Thrawn took a breath, then said, "And she wants the Stargazer."  
  
"She said she wanted information about it." She hesitated, then said, "She's my sister."  
  
Thrawn's hand tightened involuntarily. "You have a sister?"  
  
"You remember my father. . .and the nanny. . . ." She sighed. "Well, Rya's why the father left the nanny for some bartender from Andal."  
  
"Ah," Thrawn said. "And she's. . . ."  
  
"A mercenary."  
  
Outstanding. Thrawn frowned. "And she thought. . . you would help her?"  
  
"No. I doubt that. I think it was more coincidence, really." She gripped his hand tighter. "She's not. . . well, she's not all that nice. And Ray. . . ." She trailed off, and Thrawn could feel her hand shaking.  
  
"Ensign Hemmons will be fine," Thrawn said, determined to see it proven true. "I'll have Security locate her."  
  
Niriz dragged himself out of the hole. Thrawn cupped his hands and turned to Katy. "I *can* get up myself," she said, then stepped onto his hands. "But thanks."  
  
He boosted her up, and Niriz offered his hand. Katy looked rather flustered by the help, her cheeks pink. She turned to help him out, but Thrawn was already climbing out on his own. "Well," Niriz said. "I'll contact Security, then."  
  
"No!" Katy's face went redder, but she didn't waver. "Don't call. She'll know your freq. She'll listen for it and know you know."  
  
The captain let out a slow breath. "In person, then."  
  
Katy was biting her lip fairly hard. He squeezed her hand again. "What is it, Katy?"  
  
"She knows how to slice into turbolift systems," Katy said. "She's done that sort of thing before. If we get on one. . . we might not be getting off for a long time."  
  
Niriz pursed his lips. "Are you volunteering to run up twenty flights of stairs?"  
  
"I don't have much of a choice, do I, sir," she replied, breaking away from Thrawn and taking off toward the stairwell down the hall.  
  
Thrawn sighed, then shrugged. "Risk it if you wish, Captain," he said, then ran after Katy.  
  
She beat him to the stairs and was halfway to the first landing before he got through the door. "By the way," Katy called back at him. "How did you know to call me?"  
  
"The bedroom flag." Thrawn jogged up the stairs after her. "That wasn't you?"  
  
She didn't turn around. "No. . . no, it must have been Ray!" She shook her head. "I swear, I have to do something for him– making him help with my math, getting him kidnaped. . . I'm not really being a very good friend."  
  
"I'm sure you'll come up with something."  
  
"I'll throw a Way to Go Ray party," she said.  
  
And she sounded serious. "Perhaps a commendation would suffice," he said, reaching for his pocket.  
  
"Nope. Unless you mean it would suffice in addition to a party." She picked up her pace a bit. "You can get that fancy T-whatever cooking droid to make some good food, right? And we can have music and– oh! Karaoke!"  
  
Thrawn flicked his comm on. "Security."  
  
Katy stopped, and he barely stopped in time to avoid running into her. "What are you doing?" she demanded.  
  
"Shh."  
  
"Fine! No karaoke! You're going to get him killed!"  
  
Thrawn reached out with his free hand and covered her mouth. "This is Thrawn," he said when Security picked up. "The door to my quarters is unresponsive." He released Katy and gestured her forward. She hesitated, then turned and continued running.  
  
"Unresponsive, sir?" the security tech asked. "Is it a power shortage?"  
  
"Someone sliced into my door controls," Thrawn said sharply, going after Katy. "And I expect she is still inside. With my wife."  
  
Thrawn heard a muffled conversation, and then a different voice said, "You've had no luck contacting anyone inside?"  
  
"She was clearly not speaking freely. I want a squad of troopers and a programer down here immediately."  
  
"Yes, of course, sir. They're on their way already."  
  
Thrawn shut off the comm. Over her shoulder, Katy said, "You'd better hope she bought that."  
  
"She won't. But trust me." 


	11. TEN

TEN  
  
Niriz watched the admiral disappear into the stairwell and frowned. The thought of running up all those stairs was hardly appealing. But if Thrawn wanted to take the stairs. . . . Sighing, he took one step toward the door.  
  
"Captain Niriz!"  
  
He spun around. A young woman in a lieutenant's uniform strolled around the corner, a smirk on her lips. Katy Drake's sister? She did have a vague resemblance to the lieutenant, though this woman had black hair and stood several centimeters shorter. "Ms. Weiss," he said.  
  
The mercenary's smirk widened. "Oh, then you've already rescued my dear sister. Wonderful."  
  
She had a blaster stuck in the band of her pants. Niriz frowned. "Where is the ensign?"  
  
"What ensign?"  
  
"The ensign you've *kidnaped*," Niriz snapped. "Security is on the way. Give him up unharmed, and I'll see that your punishment is less severe."  
  
Weiss had the gall to laugh. "Security? By the time Drake and her husband– husband." She snorted, shaking her head. "Unbelievable, that girl. Anyway. By the time they finally get there by *stairs*, you and I will be long gone."  
  
"I'm not going anywhere."  
  
She shrugged. "That seems to be the consensus between you Imps. Well, go on and leave, then."  
  
"First tell me about the ensign and this Stargazer you're interested in."  
  
Weiss started to laugh. "Oh, that's great," she said. "First, you insist on staying. Now you think I should stay– and talk to you? Cap, you're hilarious."   
  
Niriz scowled. "You have no idea how much trouble you're in, Weiss."  
  
"Sure I do. Interrogation, detention block, execution. . . whatever." She smirked. "The goofy-looking kid is safe for now. You're lucky he's got no chance whatsoever of getting those files."  
  
"And the Stargazer?"  
  
"You tell me." She pulled out her blaster. "In fact, I would like very much if you *did* tell me what it does, since I'm having absolutely no luck whatsoever figuring it out."  
  
Glowering at her, he said, "I don't give information to rebels and pirates."  
  
"Good. I'm a merc, not a rebel or a pirate. Now speak up, Cap, I'm getting impatient. I have to go soon, and if I don't get what I want soon. . . ." She clicked off the safety. "I'm listening."  
  
His heart hammered against his ribs, but refused to show it. Eyeing the mercenary coolly, he said, "As far as I'm concerned, you're a pirate."  
  
"Obviously Drake didn't tell you enough about me." Weiss was starting to sound impatient. "Are you ready to die, Niriz? This is your last chance to talk."  
  
Well, this was going wonderfully. "You realize you will never make it off this ship? Thrawn knows you're here."  
  
"That's your decision, then?" She sighed, shaking her head. "Stupid Imp. I don't–" She paused, frowning. "That son of a. . . what does he think he's doing?"  
  
Niriz glanced over his shoulder, but there was nobody in sight. Weiss smiled blackly. "Thrawn just called Security down to his room. . . interesting. I wonder if he thinks I don't know he and Drake are gone." She snorted. "Or maybe he's got a grudge against you, Cap. Well, come on, let's get going."  
  
"I'm not going anywhere."  
  
Weiss shrugged. "If you say so." And she pulled the trigger.  
  
*****  
  
//She was clearly not speaking freely//   
  
Major Hex frowned at his comm. Clearly not speaking freely. . . that was Thrawn's code phrase, a phrase warning that what he said was not completely true. He must figure this invader, whoever it was, would overhear.  
  
Drumming his fingers on the desk, Hex went over the conversation again. He "expected" she was still inside with Lieutenant Drake. Another cue. So either the invader was gone, or the lieutenant was. Or both. The thought of the admiral's wife being held hostage made him shudder. The last thing he needed was to deal with that.  
  
He exhaled. Thrawn obviously wanted Security looking for this guy– no, this woman. Thrawn had very distinctly said "she." And he didn't want this woman knowing they were looking.  
  
Hex looked up at the stormtrooper commander waiting for his orders. "We have an intruder. Female, assumed armed. She may be holding the admiral's wife hostage. She needs to be found. Orders must be passed on in person– I don't want a word of this over the comm until we have her."  
  
If the commander was surprised, he gave no sign of it. "Understood, sir."  
  
"Good. I also want a squad sent down to the Admiral's chambers with a decent slicer from Engineering."  
  
The commander nodded sharply. "Yes, sir."  
  
Only minutes later, Hex found himself down in front of the admiral's blast door, accompanied by a dozen stormtroopers and a not one but two lieutenants from Engineering. "Check out the area," Hex said to the troopers. "Two stay behind until we get the door open."  
  
It was boring work, watching the slicers work, until a pair of stormtroopers returned, a young man in an ensign's uniform supported between them. The young man was stumbling, a woozy look to him.  
  
"We found in the viewing bubble down in the next corridor," one of the troopers said as soon as he was in hearing range. "Looks like someone stunned him."  
  
"She did," the ensign said, closing his eyes. "Tell the admiral she wants the Stargazer."  
  
"Were you inside?" Hex demanded. "What did she do with Lieutenant Drake?"  
  
"Still inside." The ensign swayed on his feet, but he pulled his arm away from the stormtrooper in order to push up his glasses. "Tell the admiral– or captain– about the Stargazer. It's important."  
  
Hex hesitated, but this would not interfere in the story Thrawn had given over the comm. He pulled out his commlink and said, "Admiral Thrawn."  
  
After a moment, he got an answer. "Thrawn here."  
  
"Sir, this is the team working on your door. An ensign was found. Apparently, he's been stunned."  
  
There was a brief pause, and then Thrawn said, "Oh? What does he have to say?"  
  
"He says, quote, she wants the Stargazer."  
  
"I see." Thrawn was silent a moment, then said, "Very well. Have the ensign escorted to Sickbay. I'd like to speak to him personally." 


	12. ELEVEN

ELEVEN  
  
Ray Hemmons was pacing in his little area of Sickbay. Thrawn pushed aside the curtain and stepped inside. The young ensign froze. "Sir," he said. "Is Katy. . . ."  
  
"She's fine," Thrawn assured him. The young man pushed his glasses up uneasily. "You did well, Ensign. The door alarm was clever."  
  
Hemmons flushed slightly. "I just– did you catch her yet, sir?"  
  
"Not yet. Tell me what she said about Stargazer."  
  
The young man shook his head. "She didn't seem to know anything, sir. She asked. . . where we kept it, what it did." He swallowed. "I-I told her that I just deliver the files, sir, and I didn't know anything."  
  
"And she let you go."  
  
"Yes, sir," Hemmons said. "Well, s-she stunned me, first, but. . . ."  
  
Thrawn nodded, relieved. "The medic says you're fine."  
  
"Y-yes, sir."  
  
"Good. Come with me."  
  
The ensign's eyes widened, but he hurried to follow. Thrawn glanced down at him and said, "I saw your sensor program."  
  
Hemmons' shoulders stiffened nervously. "You. . . did, sir?" he asked.  
  
"It's very clever," Thrawn said. "From what I understand of it, of course." He glanced briefly at his chrono. If the captain wasn't stuck in a turbolift somewhere, he ought to be to Security by now and wondering why Thrawn wasn't there. Well, Katy would explain. "Do you understand the comm system as well?"  
  
The young man's eyes widened. "The comm system? I. . . think so."  
  
"Could you detect a third party listening in on a call?"  
  
"Yes, sir."  
  
Thrawn smiled tightly. "Could you trace it?"  
  
Hemmons hesitated, just slightly, then nodded. "Yes, sir, I could."  
  
"Excellent. Then I have a job for you."  
  
*****  
  
Katy paced the Security office, waiting to hear from anyone. Thrawn hadn't called about Ray, Niriz hadn't arrived, and the Security Chief was on his way back up from overseeing the opening of Thrawn's quarters. Of those three men, she held little hope of seeing Captain Niriz soon– if he hadn't made it up yet, he was likely stuck in a turbolift. Thrawn, she had no idea about. Major Hex would likely be back soon, provided he hadn't gotten stuck in a turbolift as well.  
  
And then her comm trilled. She turned it on eagerly. "Yes. Drake."  
  
"It's me," Thrawn said. "You made it safely?"  
  
"Yes, I'm good– how's Ray?"  
  
"He's perfectly fine. Has the captain arrived yet?"  
  
Katy snorted, leaning against Hex's desk. "I told him he'd get stuck and he did. At least, I figure he did." She picked up a holo and eyed it for lack of better to look at. "He's not here, no."  
  
"I'll have Hex investigate the turbolifts, then," Thrawn said. "I don't suppose you've heard anything about those creatures in Shipping?"  
  
She set the holo down again and straightened a pile of printouts. "What creatures?"  
  
"There are. . . lizards running around in the Shipping bay," Thrawn said. "Large lizards."  
  
"Giant *lizards*?" She shook her head. "Rya. . . Sith. Something is wrong in her head."  
  
Dryly, Thrawn said. "The distraction worked, though."  
  
"Yeah. . . true." She sighed and straightened up again. "And I'll bet she's listening right now.   
  
Another woman's voice said, "That's not a fair bet, Drake. Of course I am."  
  
Katy jumped, then scowled at her comm. "Rya! Blast it! Why are you doing this?"  
  
"It's fun, Drake. You should try having fun some time. You'll like it." Rya sounded cheerful. "So you're not in your room, huh? Did your husband knock over the bookcase?"  
  
"What do you want, Rya?" she snapped.  
  
"Oh, not much. Information. A shuttle. The usual."  
  
"Good bloody luck."  
  
Rya laughed. "I don't need luck, Katy. After all, Thrawn does want his captain back, don't you, Admiral."  
  
Thrawn didn't answer, and Rya continued to chuckle. "No? Hear that, Cap? Sounds like it's the grudge after all."  
  
"Put Niriz on the line," Thrawn said sharply. "Right now."  
  
Rya's laughter died. "He's not in any condition to speak. Now. It's not as if I'm asking for hard data here. This shouldn't be so blasted difficult. Just give me a short, ten-second description of why I ought to be afraid of it. That will do. The details don't matter. And I want my shuttle back."  
  
"Ten seconds of information," Thrawn snorted. "You expect me to believe that?"  
  
"That would be convenient." Rya was completely unfazed by his tone. "Don't make this harder than it has to be."  
  
Katy balled a fist. Too bad Rya wasn't here– the girl thought she could come here and start giving orders? Oh, it would be so nice to take a swing at her. "I don't know how else to say this, Rya," she said coolly. "You should not have done this. You're frekked."  
  
"On the contrary." She paused, then said, "Oh, goodness, look at that. Stormtroopers. Did you trace my comm?" She snorted in amusement. "Well, I suppose I'll be talking to you in person, Drake. Admiral."  
  
Katy blinked in surprise, then said, "What is she talking about?"  
  
"I was tracing her call. She's hiding in one of the conference rooms." He let out a breath. "I'm going to listen to the stormtroopers' comm freq. Come out if you would like."  
  
Come out? She walked to the door and into the main office. Thrawn was indeed outside, sitting at a comm terminal. And next to him–  
  
"Ray!" she exclaimed, hurrying over. "You're okay!"  
  
He grinned, looking embarrassed. "Hi, Katy."  
  
"Ray, you are absolutely my favorite person in the galaxy," she said, looking around for a chair. Nothing. Blast. She leaned against the back of Thrawn's chair and said, "The door flag– brilliant! I never would have thought of that!"  
  
He flushed. "Oh, no– yes, I mean, sure you would."  
  
"Ray, I've decided I'm throwing you a party."  
  
"A– a party? But– but I didn't do anything," he protested. "The admiral saved you and all, not me."  
  
Laughing, she patted Thrawn's shoulder. "Well, then, it can be a party for both of you. But it's because of you that he knew something was wrong. So don't think you can get out of it. You neither, Admiral."  
  
"You are *not* involving me in this," Thrawn said, turning away from the comm station just long enough to give her a narrow look. "I want nothing to do with your 'karaoke'." Then he went back to the display.  
  
Katy rolled her eyes. "We'll see about that, Mr. No-Fun. What about the captain? Is he really there with her, or was she just playing with us?"  
  
"No, the commander says he isn't there."  
  
"Figures. So where is he? I can't have my party until everyone is accounted for and all those giant lizard things are cleaned up, so. . . ."  
  
Thrawn shrugged. "Shh. I'm listening to this."  
  
"Are they saying anything interesting?"  
  
"Shh."  
  
Well. Blast him, then. She turned to Ray. "Anyway, it's going to be a great party, I think."  
  
"Listen," Thrawn said, nodding at the comm. "They caught her."  
  
"Oh, thank the Force. Did she kill anyone?"  
  
Thrawn shook his head. "She surrendered."  
  
"*What*? Then it's got to be a trick." 


	13. TWELVE

a/n: sorry this took so long! I've been busy. Chem test tomorrow. nuts. vacation starts wednesday but i'm working all vacation so double nuts. plus, my internet's been acting up, so i really haven't gotten much chance to post anything. but i think it's doing okay now, so here's the next chapter. hope y'all enjoy it, since it might be the last one until Sunday (SORRY!)  
  
TWELVE  
  
Rya sat in the interrogation room, her arms secured to the table with stun cuffs. It was a boring, bland room with plain white walls, a white table, and nothing else. Not exactly the typical Imperial interrogation room. She leaned back in her chair as well as her restrained arms would allow, wondering how much longer this was going to take. There was no chrono in sight, but over an hour had to have passed– it felt like five, but that was probably her imagination.   
  
She had expected them to come much sooner. Unless they had found Captain Niriz already. . . . She looked at the holocam in the corner and yawned. Damn Imps, leaving her chained the table in here.  
  
And then, finally, the door opened. Admiral Thrawn himself walked in. She smiled widely. "Well. I'm flattered. The big man himself."  
  
The blue-skinned alien did not look amused. "You are in a great deal of trouble, Ms. Weiss."  
  
"It sure looks like it," she agreed. "So how long have you two been married, anyway? How come nobody invited me?"  
  
Thrawn didn't dignify with an answer. Pulling out a chair across the table, he sat down. "Tell me why you came here, Ms. Weiss."  
  
"I know Imps are not the brightest people in the world," she said, rolling her eyes. "But really! How many times do I have to answer that question?"  
  
His red eyes bored into her without a hint of mercy. "Until you tell the truth," he said. "Now. Why are you here?"  
  
"What do you want to hear? If it's not the Stargazer. . . ." She snorted. "All right, how about this? I came to visit. Thought I'd make a dramatic entrance." He did not move, and she scowled. "Sithspawn, man. I just want some information. That's it. I got paid to come up here and figure out what the hell a Stargazer is. That's it. Now what? Are you going to shoot me? Throw me in the detention block?"  
  
Thrawn shook his head slowly. "No, Ms. Weiss, not yet." He stood up again, very calmly. "I think a full interrogation is in order."  
  
"Just a minute, Admiral," she said, injecting just a hint of alarm into her voice. "You can't do that."  
  
He arched one blue-black eyebrow. "No? I disagree."  
  
"No. Please." She shook her head violently. "You. . . can't."  
  
"I gave you a chance to tell the truth, Ms. Weiss. And now I'll do it my way."  
  
She lowered her eyes to the table and said nothing. Timing was everything. Timing, and, of course, the assumption that he was not a complete droid. Well, if Katy liked him. . . . maybe he'd buy it.  
  
At the edge of her vision, she saw him reach for the door controls. "Wait," she said softly.  
  
He paused, turning around. Not a word. She continued looking down, holding her breath. Then, gritting her teeth, she said, "I'm pregnant. Please. Don't drug me."  
  
She risked a brief glance up and saw that his expression hadn't changed. He turned without a word.  
  
*Merciful* she thought, annoyed. Her contact had said the admiral would not use interrogation drugs on a pregnant woman. Well, only one thing left to do to sway him. It wasn't as if she could use him as a hostage. . . .  
  
"The captain is in a custodial closet not far from your room," she said to his back. "Just one hallway down. The ensign is some sort of viewing room just down the hall from your quarters. They're both alive."  
  
Thrawn cued open the door and left. Rya watched the door close again, wondering whether she had made an impact at all. Would he tell Drake about this development? Rya struggled to hide any sign of amusement, since they had to be observing her. Drake didn't like her at all– but unless the Imps had utterly brainwashed her, she wouldn't stand by and let the admiral kill an innocent, unborn baby. Even Rya's. She would have to find a way to make sure Drake found out, then.   
  
Drake was trying to figure out how to make that happen when the door opened again. This time, her visitor was a droid. A med-droid. The anxiety at the back of her mind eased a bit. If he didn't care about interrogating a pregnant woman, he wouldn't have sent a med-droid. Nope, it would have been a hovering interrogation droid.  
  
"I have been directed to perform a blood test," the droid said, stopping at her side.  
  
"So I gathered. Well, have at it."  
  
It used a long needle to draw a sample from her inner elbow. Rya ignored it, and the droid left without another word. Rya didn't bother to ask about the results. There was no need.  
  
*****  
  
Thrawn nodded, and the stormtrooper cued the custodial closet open. When he saw the interior, he gestured for the guards to lower their weapons. This was no trap.  
  
An extremely indignant Captain Niriz stood in the closet, his hands stun-cuffed to a pipe. A quick glance revealed no obvious injuries. "Where is she?" Niriz demanded.  
  
"The detention block," Thrawn replied. "Lieutenant, get those cuffs off."  
  
A stormtrooper stepped forward the a molecular stiletto. He pulled off one of his armored gloves and said, "Be very still, sir."  
  
Niriz didn't move as the stormtrooper worked. "What damage did she do, sir?" he asked.  
  
Thrawn shook his head. "Minor comm slicing. Nothing new yet." The cuffs fell away, and Niriz stepped out of the closet, rubbing his wrists. "There is one interesting development, though."  
  
"By 'interesting,' I hope you 'good,' sir," Niriz said, frowning. "I don't think I want to deal with more bad news today."  
  
To the stormtrooper commander, Thrawn said, "Make a sweep of this hall and the surrounding ones in case she left any surprises. Then return to your duties."  
  
"Yes, sir," the trooper said.  
  
Thrawn gestured Niriz toward a turbolift. "Weiss claims to be pregnant," he said.  
  
Niriz snorted. "An attempt to avoid interrogation, I'm sure."  
  
"Most likely," Thrawn agreed. "The blood test says she is telling the truth."  
  
"That can be faked." The captain shook his head. "Hormonal injections– this is another trick."  
  
Thrawn nodded. "I agree. Which leads to two conclusions." He glanced at Niriz and raised an eyebrow, waiting.  
  
The captain pondered that a moment, frowning. "She was prepared in the event that she was captured," Niriz said. "But she had realize that a pregnancy wouldn't save her." Thrawn nodded, and Niriz's frown deepened. "So. . . why, then?"  
  
"Why, indeed." He cued the turbolift open and stepped in. "Any thoughts?"  
  
Niriz let out a breath. "If she had the injection. . . and it wasn't a backup escape plan– she knew she would be captured."  
  
Thrawn smiled as he cued for Security. "Very good, Captain. That was my thought as well. Which leads to the more disturbing question: what purpose does it serve?"  
  
"I. . . have no idea, sir."  
  
"She expects it to save her, after all." Thrawn tapped his fingers together. "Not the pregnancy, per say, but the delay it provides. . . she is stalling, Captain."  
  
The captain frowned. "Stalling? For what, sir?"  
  
"For her rescuer."  
  
"Rescuer? Did we find anyone else sneaking onboard?"  
  
Thrawn shook his head. "No. No, this person is already onboard." His eyes narrowed. "How did she learn of the Stargazer?"  
  
"I don't know, sir."  
  
"Someone told her, Captain," Thrawn said, his lips tightening into a frown. "We have a traitor on our hands." 


	14. THIRTEEN

Happy turkey day to all you Americans out there. Sorry to make everyone wait so long for an update. I got to spend my vacation working. yippee. oh, well-- I got paid extra on Thanksgiving. now there's just two weeks of classes and then finals. . . . shudder. finals. well, here's the update. . . .  
  
THIRTEEN  
  
"Shouldn't you be doing math, Lieutenant?"  
  
For the second time this week, Katy nearly went flying off her treadmill. "Blast it!" she cried, grabbling the handles.  
  
Thrawn shook his head. "You need to pay more attention to your surroundings, I think."  
  
"This is *gym time*," she panted, regaining her pace and running again. "People aren't supposed to bug me."  
  
"I thought you might like an update."  
  
Update? Well. . . she slapped the stop control. "All right," she said, hopping off. "You win. Let's go."  
  
Once in the hall, she said, "So? Is the Ray Party on?"  
  
"Well, we found Niriz," Thrawn said. "And he's fine."  
  
"Good," she said with a breath of relief. If Rya had done something stupid. . . but he was okay. "Great. What about the lizards?"  
  
Thrawn shook his head. "We're having more trouble with those, unfortunately. Their scales seem to be impervious to blaster fire, and their claws rip through plasteel." He grimaced. "The supplies still in Shipping are getting ripped apart. It's too big a space to gas it."  
  
"Are these things black? About one meter long, usually?"  
  
Thrawn raised an eyebrow. "You know of them?"  
  
"I think so. My granddad used balkarons as guard animals on his estate."  
  
"Not Poppy– your father's father, you mean."  
  
She nodded. "They look fierce, but they're usually very obedient." She grinned. "Want me to help? Want an army of lizard guards?"  
  
"Well, there are only seven of them," Thrawn said dryly. "It's hardly an army. But if you know how to handle them, please do so."  
  
Katy stopped at the turbolift. "And in return, you'll help me with my math."  
  
"I said I would earlier."  
  
"I mean, really help. Sit there and*help*."  
  
Thrawn chuckled. "Well, if I have to. . . ."  
  
"I'll make it worth your while," she assured him with a laugh of her own. She stepped into the lift car and said, "Um. . . where, exactly, is Shipping, now?"  
  
He raised an eyebrow. "You intend to go in that?"  
  
She glanced down at her workout clothes. The usual shorts and sports top, spotted with sweat. . . . "Yup," she said. "No time to waste. I've got math to get to."  
  
"I see." He reached past her and selected a destination. The doors slid closed, and he said, "It's going to be a long night."  
  
Katy smirked. "It usually is."  
  
"Ah," he said, wrapping his arms around her waist. "Very true." He lowered his head and kissed her.  
  
She put her own arms around his neck. When he pulled back, he said, "But math is not quite as fun as. . . ." And he kissed her again.  
  
Sith take it, he was right about that. His hands slid down her back, pulling her tight against him.   
  
She didn't notice the car slowing until Thrawn released her. "That was a short trip," she said, feeling a bit irritated.  
  
Thrawn smiled, straightening his tunic. "Patience, my dear. Patience." When the door opened, he followed her out.  
  
"By the way," Katy said, casting a look back at him. "Did Colonel Hark ever say what I did to deserve being tortured?"  
  
Shrugging, Thrawn said, "The colonel is a bit. . . well, excited."  
  
"*Excited*? About what?"  
  
"I think he likes the idea of training a new officer."  
  
Katy froze. "WHAT?" she demanded. Thrawn paused as well. "I said I didn't want to *be* an officer!"  
  
"So you did. Hark doesn't seem to believe you."  
  
She scowled. "And so you just gave him the go-ahead? No need to even bother asking ME?"  
  
"I did not," Thrawn said evenly. "What I said was that *someday*, should you ever change your mind, he might ask you about it."  
  
"Someday?" she snapped. "Oh, boy, he sure took his time, didn't he! I suppose tomorrow we start tactics? Thrawn, I can't believe you!"  
  
He raised an eyebrow. "Me? And what did I do?"  
  
"Why didn't you tell him *no*? You know how I feel about this!"  
  
"He wants to work with you, Katy. You're under no obligation. It's not an order." He shrugged. "You really don't want to learn how to operate an AT-AT?"  
  
Katy opened her mouth, then stopped. "An AT-AT?" she repeated. "What does that have to do with command?"  
  
"They're Hark's specialty," Thrawn said with a tiny smile. "And it's good to understand the equipment under your command."  
  
"I don't have a command. I don't *intend* to command anything."  
  
He shrugged. "As I said, you're under no obligation. Training with the sims doesn't mean anything." He gave her an even look. "And regardless, you haven't earned such a promotion yet. I don't give out promotions over personal attachment anymore than you accept them."  
  
She felt her cheeks flush. "Right. I know. I just. . . oh, forget it. I'll do the Sithspitting math, but it doesn't mean anything." She hesitated, then said, "An AT-AT? Really?"  
  
"Really," he chuckled. "I thought you might enjoy that." He stopped at a large blast door and cued it open. "Let's see what we have, shall we?"  
  
Across the room, several men were clustered in front of a large window. Katy crossed the room curiously as Thrawn went to speak to them. Out the window, she could see an enormous room filled with crates. The floor was covered in supplies– torn, scattered, ruined supplies.  
  
And there, digging through a crate of fruit, was a balkaron. "How do I get in there?" she called.  
  
"In there?" one of the men asked. "Are you crazy?"  
  
She shook her head. "Nope. They're just a few balkarons. Trust me."  
  
Thrawn looked out the window. "Then you won't protest if I go with."  
  
"They're harmless."  
  
"Harmless?" the unnamed man snorted. "Look what they did!"  
  
Katy shrugged. "Harmless to people, then. Let me in?"  
  
Thrawn gestured toward the door. "Come, then," he said, walking toward it.  
  
So they stepped through into the Shipping bay. The balkaron's head snapped up and it started walking toward them.  
  
"Good girl," Katy said, squatting down. "Come."  
  
The lizard whistled and bounded over. "Sit," Katy said as it skidded to a stop in front of her.  
  
It settled to its haunches, nudging her with its head. "What a sweetie," Katy said, rubbing the scales. "Good girl. Stay." She stood up and glanced at Thrawn. "Can you whistle? Loud? I can't."  
  
He took a breath and let out a piercing whistle. Katy heard the skittering of claws on metal, and a moment later, balkaron barreled into sight from all directions. "Come!" Katy called. When they got close enough, she added, "Sit."  
  
And she suddenly had seven large lizards sitting obediently at her feet. She grinned. 


End file.
